ztect: Re: "in your professional opinion, then are any of these under $50.00 products really worth it even for the small office or individual user who aren't very computer savvy and want to be safe rather than sorry?"
This may sound a bit odd, but please bear with me for a moment while I explain. I think the "quick and dirty" products that check out (and fix, in some cases) the hardware glitch while ignoring the software environment could in some instances do more harm than good.
In particular, the "casual" PC user who has heard of the Y2K problem might see a Y2K hardware test product on the shelf and buy it. He'll then test his PC, find out it's non-compliant, and then implement the fixes supplied by the product (assuming he's not PC-challenged and can do such things). He would then rerun his tests, and sure enough, his Y2K problem went away. Hooray! We have a happy customer, and he goes on about his business secure in the knowledge that the Y2K problem is over for him. He then gives his copy of the product to his buddy who does the same thing. (Well, we all know it happens, even though it's illegal.)
Now, in January of 2000, our happy supposedly Y2K-compliant user balances his checkbook with a non-Y2K compliant version of Microsoft Money. All kinds of terrible things happen to his money records. But, the hardware checks out just fine. He was lulled into a false sense of security by a perfectly good hardware test. So, an innocent user who tries to save a few bucks and do-it-himself gets screwed.
In these cases, the products do what they're supposed to ... but not what the customer NEEDS. What the customer NEEDS is a product that will identify ALL Y2K exposures. It'd be really great if there were a product that fixes them all, too. But, as far as I know, that doesn't exist today. And won't, unfortunately.
Whoever tries to fix PC Y2K problems better have his act together. As you well know, the world is chock full of clueless people. Those people are Y2K-accidents waiting to happen.
Regards,
TED
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