U.S. Daylight Saving Time Changes and MusicMaster
February 13, 2007
In August of 2005, Congress passed an energy bill that included extending Daylight Saving Time by about a month. Beginning in 2007, DST will start on the second Sunday in March and end on the first Sunday in November.
How will this change affect MusicMaster users?
MusicMaster for Windows:
MusicMaster for Windows was designed to inherit Daylight Saving Time settings directly from Microsoft Windows. This means that as long as your copy of Windows is updated to recognize the new DST changes, MusicMaster will automatically follow these new settings. No updates to the MusicMaster software will be required. However, you must ensure that your copy of Windows has been updated to recognize these changes. The procedure to do this will vary depending on the version of Windows you are using.
For Windows Vista and newer, nothing needs to be done as these operating systems understand these changes already.
For Windows XP, Microsoft has made an update package available. This high priority update was released through Windows Update on Feb 13, 2007. Computers that are configured to install high priority updates automatically will receive this update, provided Windows XP has been updated with Service Pack 2. You can also download and manually install this DST patch yourself. See the references section below.
For Windows 2000, Microsoft has published tools and instructions on their web site to update this operating system for the new DST changes as well. In our opinion, these instructions are way too complicated for the average computer user. We have, however, found a free utility made by a third-party company that easily makes these adjustments for you. You can find a link to this utility and the official Microsoft notes in the references section below.
For Windows 98/ME, Microsoft does not appear to have any useful information available at all. We have, however, found a free utility made by a third-party company that easily makes these adjustments for you. You can find a link to this utility in the references section below.
We have also provided a new version of the MusicMaster System Information utility that will show when Daylight Saving Time adjustments are schedule for the current year. You can use this to confirm that the proper settings are in place on your computer.
MusicMaster for DOS or MusicMaster LT:
MusicMaster for DOS and MusicMaster LT only properly handle normal United States Daylight Saving Time changes, and the dates it uses for this are built right into the program. This means that you must install a new update for MusicMaster in order to have it work properly with the new DST changes. We have made available MusicMaster DOS 2.1.07 and MusicMaster LT 1.1.18 that will address this change. Once the new update is installed, MusicMaster will automatically start recognizing the new DST change dates. These updates may be downloaded in the support area of our website.
References:
Microsoft Article: 2007 Time Zone and Daylight Saving Time Update for Windows XP
Microsoft Article: Adjusting Daylight Saving Time manually for Windows 2000 and XP
Easy-to-use Daylight Saving Time utilities from Intelliadmin:
Please restart Windows after running these utilities.
- Download for Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 (Only for NT/2000)
- Download for Windows 98/ME
Manual Time Zone Editor from Microsoft:
Note that these unpack to C:\Program Files\TZEdit and create no shortcuts for you. You will need to browse to that folder and double-click the program file to launch it.
MusicMaster System Information Utility:
Please copy this file to the MusicMaster for Windows program folder.
If you have any further questions about this, or need assistance, please contact your MusicMaster Music Scheduling Consultant for assistance.