Daylight Savings Time Zone Update Available

In July of 2005, the U.S. Congress passed the Energy Policy Act in an attempt to establish a comprehensive long-range energy policy. President Bush later signed it into law in August of 2005. The new law changes both the start and end dates of daylight savings time (DST).

DST now starts 3 weeks earlier and ends 1 week later. The time will now change at 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday in March and will end at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday in November.

The change in DST applies to the U.S. (with the exception of Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa) and Canada, but it may affect others outside of these countries.

Several Microsoft products are affected by the DST change. For many of the Microsoft products affected by the 2007 daylight saving time change, the most recent versions will not require an update, but earlier versions will, including:

• Windows Client
   
• Windows Server
   
• Windows Mobile
   
• Microsoft Biztalk Server
   
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM
   
• Microsoft Entourage
   
• Microsoft Exchange Server
   
• Microsoft Office Outlook
   
• Microsoft SQL Server Notification Services
   
• Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services
   
• Office Live Meeting
   
• Visual SourceSafe

Depending on the particular product or scenario, these updates will be released through Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS), hotfixes incorporated in Knowledge Base articles, Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), and the Microsoft Download Center.

For more information on how and where to get updates for the items mentioned above see preparing for daylight savings time changes at the Microsoft site.

The time zone definitions shipped with Windows Vista so it will not be affected. Knowledge base article #928388 has the details and the download for the Windows XP SP2 (service pack 2) update.

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