On 23 Apr 98 at 12:53, aantono wrote:

> I have a question, are the 486 computers year 2000 compatable or not.
> Just as simple as that.

  It's not a simple question at all.

  The chips themselves don't care.  Code in the BIOS might or might
not be compliant.  Microsoft has announced a patch to make the v7
COMMAND.COM (included with Win95, either version) compliant, but
apparently will not be doing this for older versions of DOS or 16-bit
Windows.  Some applications are compliant, and some are not.
  To make a compliant "system", every component that cares about
dates must be compliant.

  It's probably true that there are a certain number of machines
which won't have trouble UNLESS they are turned on and running when
the year changes from 1999 to 2000.

  You should be able to test your own system for this sort of thing
by adjusting the system date and time.  Remember to put them back
when you're done.

David G