Internet Stops -- Had Enough Of Y2K Bug? Surf For Help

Aug 15, 1999

Jeff Houck

Tribune Media Services

Like a Saint Bernard breathing on the back of your neck, the Year 2000 Millennium Computer Bug Crisis That Will Either Kill Us All Or Just Annoy Us Immensely is looming large in the horizon. How best to deal with this technological scourge? By visiting these Web sites, of course:

1. YEAR 2000 REGISTRY

http://www.year2000registry .com/

It's a great idea: Give manufacturers a central location to post the status of their Y2K bug-fighting efforts.

This site serves as such a clearinghouse, posting reports about everything from video cameras to computers. And there's also a healthy dollop of Y2K news.

2. Y2K KITCHEN

http://www.y2kkitchen.com/

This Web site answers the Y2K paranoid's question, "What food do I buy for the end of the world and what do I do with it?" There are numerous sites dedicated to basic food storage, where you can learn how to store whole wheat and rice and pack them so they'll last for 10 years. These pages are a tad more sensible, leaning toward how to best cook with a few dozen cases of canned food. The authors had a real Y2K-type test in January after an ice storm cut their electricity for almost two days. If they don't know what they're talking about, nobody does.

3. Y2K PRODUCT COMPLIANCE DATABASE

http://www.y2kbase.com/

This site helps consumers answer such questions as, "What does a company mean when they say they're Y2K compliant?" and "What products and services that I own or plan to buy may fail on Jan. 1, 2000?" or the ever-popular, "If the product or service will be affected, will it have limited problems or fail completely?" Our advice: Assume the worst.

4. Y2K SANITY CHECKS

http://www.equipped.com/

y2ktoc.htm

and

5. Y2KCULTURE.COM

http://www.y2kculture.com/

These two sites are among the best at diffusing the growing Y2K hysteria.

At Y2K Sanity Checks, visitors will find editorials, columns and educational links about the effects of Y2K. Administrators lead with a brief Y2K editorial calling for the novel approach that while the sky may not be falling, you should be reasonably prepared for inconveniences if all the Y2K bugs are not stomped by midnight Dec. 31.

At Y2K Culture.com, the approach is a little different. You'll find daily updates and commentary by journalists with extensive backgrounds in covering technology. If they pull a Chicken Little at this site before the end of the year, you had best believe them.

6. PREPARE4Y2K

http://prepare4y2k.com/

Scott Olmsted is a concerned computer Cub Scout when it comes to the potential millennial chaos (Y2Chaos?) we might all enjoy if we're not prepared for the year 2000 computer glitch. He explains the problem and its implications, and offers much advice and links to related sites.

If you start now, you may have time to read everything before the end of the world.

7. GARY NORTH'S LINKS AND FORUMS

http://www.garynorth.com/y2k /search.cfm

This page, which uses an unconventional, somewhat fatalistic format to discuss the Y2K problem and its remedies, makes for some very sober reading.

Those who fail to consider the ramifications of Y2K do so at their own peril! (Ain't manufactured melodrama grand?)

8. Y2K IS OK

http://www.y2kisok.com/

Just when it seemed like the end of the technological world was at hand, along comes this shiny, happy take on the whole shebang. Does the Y2K bug mean the end of the world? The creators of this cool-looking site say things may not be as bad as they seem.

9. Y2K CITIZEN'S ACTION GUIDE

http://www.utne.com/aY2K.tmpl

The Reader's Digest of the literati, the Utne Reader provides this free compendium for preparing yourself, your family and your neighborhood for Y2K and beyond. Articles explore all aspects of the problem.

10. GARY SOUTH'S Y2K LINKS AND FORUMS

http://www.garysouth.com/

Someone thinks Gary North's theories (see No. 7.) are a bunch of hooey, so much so that they've set up this parody site designed to help visitors learn to stop worrying and love the approaching Y2K apocalypse. Clever and funny.

Compiled by Excite, the Web search engine and service at http://www.excite.com.