ClickNet Y2k 5.0

Are your systems Year 2000-compliant?

The pressure is on to ensure that your systems are Year 2000 (Y2K)-compliant. If you manage a large company and have a big budget, you can hire consultants to check your company's IS infrastructure and locate compliance problems. If you manage a small to midsized business, you can use ClickNet Software's ClickNet Y2k 5.0.

ClickNet Y2k is an inexpensive, automated program that collects information about your hardware and software infrastructure and identifies potential Y2K-compliance problems. This software is relatively noninvasive, and users with no technical experience can install, configure, and use the product easily. ClickNet Y2k can run on virtually every PC and business network.

ClickNet Y2k's Installation and Planning Guide provides a helpful overview of the best way to use ClickNet Y2k. To test the software, I installed ClickNet Y2k on my Micronics-based, dual-Pentium II server running Windows NT Server 4.0 with Service Pack 3 (SP3).

After I installed ClickNet Y2k, I had to perform one technical chore—I modified my NT Server system's logon script to automatically run the software's collection agent. Modifying the system logon script might cause problems for nontechnical users or users working in a heterogeneous environment. If you are a nontechnical user, you might not have a logon script on your system. Thus, you'll need to create a logon script or find another way to run the collection agent. If you work in a heterogeneous computing environment, you might have to run one of several collection agents, depending on the OS you use.

ClickNet Y2k performed quickly during my test. The collection agent analyzed each of my client systems in less than 3 minutes (the times varied depending on the number of programs installed on each computer). All my systems were Y2K-compliant.

When users log on to your network, their logon scripts automatically run ClickNet Y2k's collection agent. The collection agent collects and stores information about your client computer systems in ClickNet Y2k's central database. The collection agent also tests your computer's BIOS chip and realtime clock to ensure they are Y2K-compliant.

You can modify your system logon script to display a message to users when ClickNet is running. You can also run the collection agent as part of a larger batch file so the collection agent doesn't run each time a user logs on.

ClickNet Y2k contains a comprehensive dictionary of software products with Y2K problems. ClickNet Y2k compares the information in this dictionary with the data it collects from your client computers and generates compliance reports. ClickNet Y2k can generate compliance reports using information about your entire enterprise or a select group of workstations on your network. You can view detailed and summary information about Y2K-compliant and non-Y2K-compliant systems. Screen 1 shows a compliance summary. ClickNet Y2k stores data in Microsoft Access databases. If you don't want to use the stock reports that come with the software, you can export the data from the system or use another report generator to create the types of reports you want.

ClickNet Software continually updates its database with the latest Y2K vendor information. However, if a vendor doesn't provide information about a product that has Y2K-compatibility problems, ClickNet Software won't have the information. After you access the Internet, you can obtain update information from the company's Web site by clicking the Upgrade Dictionary icon on the product's toolbar. Registered ClickNet Y2k users can access the database for free. ClickNet Software will maintain the database through June 2000.

Given the cost of hiring consultants to perform the same task, the software is reasonably priced. If you need a tool to help you prepare for the impending year 2000, consider ClickNet Y2k.