If you've been within fourteen miles of a news broadcast or a newspaper, you know that we're "springing forward" on Sunday morning, which is much earlier than usual. This is thanks to new legislation that was signed in 2005. If you have fresh batteries to put in your smoke alarms and little notes on all your clocks, you're prepared!

Unfortunately, your Windows XP computer may not be! Since the legislation to change Daylight Saving Time (DST) was signed long after Windows XP came out, you may need to patch your computer. Otherwise your computer will "spring forward" several weeks after the fact. (Windows Vista users, you're fine -- support for the new DST was built into Vista.)

The first thing you'll need to know is which version of Windows XP you're running. Click on your Start button, and then right-click on My Computer and choose Properties from the menu. You'll get a box that'll show you system information. It'll look something like this:

Microsoft XP
Home Edition
Version 2002
Service Pack 2

Look for that last line. It'll say either Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 1. (If it doesn't say either follow the instructions for Service Pack 1.)

If you're running Windows Service Pack 2 AND your computer is connected to the Internet, you're probably fine -- Windows integrated the new DST system into a patch a few weeks ago.

If you're running XP Service Pack 2 and your computer is NOT connected to the Internet, go to an Internet computer and visit http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931836/ for a patch download.

If you're running XP Service Pack 1, Microsoft is not going to help you. Microsoft no longer supports Microsoft Service Pack 1; no patch for you! On the other hand, there's a third-party patch available for XP, Windows 98/ME, and other Windows systems that are no longer actively supported by Microsoft. This patch is available at http://www.intelliadmin.com/blog/2007/01/unofficial-windows-2000-daylight.html .

For more details about Microsoft and the new DST -- and frankly, far more than I wanted to know about the time zone updates -- visit http://support.microsoft.com/gp/dst_topissues .