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December 99 Column
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Y2K Revisited
By Jana Barberio
    It’s been over a year since I last wrote about “Why Two Kay” and this column seems timely.
    As far as the worrying about what’s going to happen with Y2K—I’m not worried. Maybe that’s because I’m married to a levelheaded Information Technology Architect and he assures me that disaster is not impending. His parents, however, bought a generator.
    Generators are a good thing, especially for computers and refrigerators during a black out. Everything—telecommunications, water—depends on power. Michigan’s worst case scenario is 72 hours without power—the time it takes to restart the Michigan power system from a complete blackout.
    One man in the 248 area code has been taking advantage of others with a Y2K scam. He has been calling bank customers saying their bank isn’t meeting Y2K requirements and that all customers will have to transfer their money to a special account. Then he obtains their account numbers and requests their authorization.
    My advice: Stay informed with Y2K, don’t panic and don’t get scammed.
    Check out Y2K sites, here are some to get you started:

http://www.microsoft.com/y2k (Microsoft’s Year 2000 guide for home computers)

http://www.washingtonpost.com (Rob Pegoraro did an excellent 9/25/98 Fast Forward column on how to get home computers Y2K compliant--$1.50 after 6 p.m. and on weekends; this also ran in the Flint Journal 10/11/98)

http://www.y2knews.com (Bi-weekly print magazine)

http://y2k.acf.dhhs.gov (Government sponsored Y2K resource page)

http://www.compinfo.co.uk/y2k.htm (Year 2000 Date Problem Support Center)

http://www.y2kwomen.com (What every woman needs to know)

http://www.everything2000.com (Your one-stop resource for celebrations, y2k, events, news, shopping, travel, links and more)

http://www.2k-times.com (Articles, Papers, Links and Reviews on the subject

of the Y2K Problem and Computers)

http://www.wbn.com/y2ktimebomb/index.htm (Y2K columns and articles)

http://www.y2knewswire.com/ (Subscribers only to this Electronic magazine “E-zine” for short)

http://www.prorege.com/North/search_choices.html (Links, articles, discussion, scenarios about Y2K) or http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/search_.cfm

(December)

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Jana Barberio is a freelance writer and a former paralegal. She and her husband, John, started the Holly Computer User Group in Holly, Michigan. She can be reached by email at
jana@barberio.com
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