Ted:
I have also found this page from the Sawkins site very interesting and have posted it here in its entirety for others just a bit too lazy to link to the site.
sawkins.com
Please let me know what you think about the breadth and emphasis of their criteria.
Thanks,
z
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Tests
This page briefly describes all of the different tests that we looked at in our study. We have marked some tests as essential. Although this is our subjective view we strongly believe that products lacking these tests or features cannot be considered to be complete.
BIOS 2000 Rollover
Does the program test the ability of the BIOS clock to rollover from 1999 to 2000? Due to the enormous range of BIOS's in the world, it would seem sensible to check this.
Century Byte Retention - Essential
Does the program test the ability of the PC to stay in the year 2000? Some PC's do not correctly store the RTC century byte and/or it is reset by the BIOS during POST.
Leap Year Tests- Essential
Does the program test the ability of the PC sucessfully identify the Year 2000 as being a leap year? The rule is as follows:-
If the year is divisible by four, it's a leap year, unless it's a century, in which case it isn't a leap year unless the century is divisible by 400, which the year 2000 is.
Leap Year Tests Past 2001
Following the same logic as the previous test - does the PC successfully realise that 2001 and the following years are not Leap Years?
RTC Tests
What tests and level of tests are performed upon the RTC?
Direct RTC Tests - Essential
Does the program make a specific point of directly testing the RTC, as opposed to going via the BIOS? There are arguments that say that 'no program goes directly to the RTC'. There is no reason why a program shouldn't go there, and with the vast range of packages in the world, it would seem foolish to ignore the possibility.
Polled RTC Rollover
Does the program watch the RTC via direct I/O whilst polling the BIOS. Some BIOS's will correct the RTC when they are called, some will not.
Power Down Tests - Essential
Does the program perform any powerdown tests? By performing these tests, the program is simulating the conditions that will arise during the 1999-2000 rollover, and what will happen when the PC is switched off in this millennium and on again in the new millennium. This may well be one of the most important tests.
File Date Stamp Test
This test is performed to make sure of one of two things:
The operating system is capable of creating a file in the Year 2000+
If the operating system correctly sorts files created after the Year 2000
GPS September 9th Test
There are two arguments for this test. Firstly, the date on this day will be 9/9/99. Will the BIOS handle this? A lot of programs use 99 as an 'illegal' marker. One of the systems that has been rumoured to have problems with this is the GPS system.
Operating System Tests
What checks are performed on the operating system? Checks here include 1999-2000 rollover, leap year tests, file date stamp tests, etc.
Windows Short Date Check
Does the program check whether your system is correctly configured so that Windows can handle 4 digit dates?
Quality of Fix - Essential
Does the fix work? How many errors will the fix correct?
Size of Fix
As most fixes are device drivers or TSR's, and therefore need to sit in base memory, the more tightly coded they have been, the better.
Latency - Essential
If the fix supplied corrects the RTC after it has 'dipped' into 1900, how long is it in 1900 for? In our honest opinion, any time spent with the PC returning the wrong is asking for trouble.
Reliability of Fix - Essential
Does the fix correct everything is says it will?
Minimum Spec
Older PCs are more liable to have problems than newer ones. Quite a few program need a 386 or greater to run. Some need '95, and therefore exclude systems running other operating systems.
Windows Based?
We mark software down for running the test under a Windows. Due to Windows' nature as a multitasking environment, we feel it is impossible to definitively test a PC's hardware whilst operating under such an environment.
Operating Systems Supported
More marks are gained here by the program supporting a range of operating systems.
Software Scanning
A rating here is given if the software performs some sort of audit of software upon the users harddrive. A higher mark is given if the user is given information about the Year 2000 compliancy of the program detected.
Advice on Software scan
What advice is the user given about the packages detected and their year 2000 compliance? Highest marks are given for full advice as to what the user should do.
Network Capabilities
What facilities does the software have for testing many machines on a network?
Collation Capabilities
What facilities does the software have for collating the results given, across a network, so that a network manager can easily which machines have problems?
Resets time after tests? Essential
As the software is likely to alter the clocks in your PC, have the programmers taken to effort to reset your clock back to it's original status after the tests have been completed.
RTC Call search
Only one program has this at the time of writing. It scans EXE files, and attempts to find calls to the RTC.
Erroneous Date Checker
Does the program provide a continuous facility to check if your PC's date has altered in an unusual way? (for instance, going forwards more than a day, going backwards in time, etc.)
CMOS Backup Utility
Some PCs lose their CMOS settings when their clock hits the year 2000. Does the program provide any facility for storing and retrieving the CMOS settings?
Presentation
This includes the manual, packaging, disk itself, installation, look and feel of the program, and ease of use.
Manual
Quality of the manual - several products reviewed did not come with a manual, and have been marked accordingly.
On-Line Help
If the user gets stuck or confused, is there help available from the program to guide them through?
Explanation of tests
Are the relevance of the tests explained? Are the methods via which the tests are performed explained? |
