A.  Get a list of applications software on your hard disk

1. Click on the Start key.
2. In the menu that appears select Programs to display a list of shortcutted programs.
3. One of the shortcutted programs should be MS-DOS Prompt - open this program by left clicking once.
4. A screen should appear with the drive and directory displayed as  C:\WINDOWS> with the cursor positioned after  >. At this spot, type the following (be careful to use spaces only where indicated):

        dir c:\*.*  > c:\y2klist.txt

   and then press enter/return.
5. The system should respond with C:\WINDOWS>  prompt at which point you type the following using double quote marks where shown:

        
   dir "c:\Program Files\*.*"    >>   c:\y2klist.txt

   and then press enter/return. The command should produce a list of files in a file named y2klist.txt.
6. Close the DOS window by clicking on the upper right box with an X.
7. On the desktop, open My Computer by double left clicking.
   • Double left click on [C:] to see a list of contents of the C drive.
   • Double left click on y2klist.txt in the list. This should display the contents of the file y2klist.txt. You can print the contents of this file by going to the menu bar and selecting File; from the menu displayed, select Print.
   • Close the DOS window by left clicking on the upper right box with an X.

B.  Obtain information about memory size

1. Right click once on My Computer; in the menu that appears, select Properties. A window with several tabs will open.
2. Left click General, which will display its contents. In the display under the heading Computer you will see the phrase nn.nMB RAM(nn.n are numbers), where nn.n is the amount of RAM on your workstation. Record the nn.n number as the amount of memory in your computer.

C.  Find out the version of each of the applications on your hard disk

1. Read down the rightmost column of the printed y2klist.txt and place a check next to the name of each file or directory that is an application (for example, MSOFFICE, WinVN, Powerpoint, Eudora).
2. In order to inventory the applications, each application must be opened.
   • Once the application is open, go to the Menu Bar and select Help;
   • In the menu list displayed, select About or About [name of application] to open a window with the version information about the application.
   • Write the complete version number next to the name of the application on your list (for example, 2.02 for Netscape)

   Most applications can be opened by going to the Start button and looking under Programs. Do not look in the Applications Server window. If an application is not found in the Start/Programs menu, you will need to open My Computer and look in the [C:] disk for a folder or file with an application named the same as the one in the rightmost column of the printed list. Open the folder (if necessary) and double left click on the [application name].exe file to open it. Look in the About window for version information.

D.  Compare your inventory with the table

Go to the Web at http://www.brown.edu/Research/Unix_Admin/y2000/Wintable.html which lists the most commonly used software.

• Compare the list of your software with this table and circle any application on your list that has a version number lower than the minimum version listed in the table.
• If you do not find the software listed in this table, you will have to try to find it at the vendor site.
  • To find the vendor site, try a Web search (using the "Net Search" button in Netscape) on the vendor name (not product) and select the entry that appears to be the home page. Once there, use the company's search button to look for "Year 2000." Some vendors may not have this information on the Web and a call to your local sales representative will be necessary.

E.  Determine if you can upgrade to the necessary versions

For those products that are below the compliance level, check the storage and memory sizes required for product compliance to see if your hard disk is large enough and if the workstation has enough memory. Allow 4-5MB for system files, etc., and remember that other applications will use some of this space. Obviously if you have 8 MB RAM on your workstation and the application takes 10MB, then an upgrade will be necessary. If you have a number of products to upgrade, add together the amount needed for each and compare it with the total memory less the amount for system files. If this number is close to the total on your machine, it is probably worth trying to apply the upgraded software before you add to your memory; however, execution may be slow.

F.   Report needed upgrades

If the workstation does not have enough memory or disk space to upgrade to the newer applications software, indicate this information in a memo to your chairperson/department head. Be sure tocomplete the entire inventory so you can determine the highest operating system level you will need for all the software and the total additional space required.

This completes the inventory of your Windows95 workstation. Please keep the list and your notes in a secure place until all of your application software is at a level compliant with year 2000. At this time, it is not necessary to install the newer software; however, this must be done before the new millennium and should be arranged at a time convenient for your Departmental Computing Coordinator.