COMMAND

    kernel

SYSTEMS AFFECTED

    Win 9x, NT

PROBLEM

    Brett Robins found following.  Although not a security bug, this
    certainly is a potentially large bug.  You can accidentally change
    the  systems  date/time  by  using  the calendar function from the
    systray or Control Panel.  This bug can be successfully reproduced
    on all MS  OS platforms.   This includes win95,win98,  NT 4.0 SP3,
    and SP4 (both workstation and server).  Brett reproduced the error
    by opening  a DOS  box, typing  Date (to  confirm the  days date).
    Then opened the Date/Time Properties Dialog Applet.  Pull down the
    Month drop  down window.   Select the  next month,  (in this  case
    april).   DO NOT  hit apply.   Go back  to the  DOS box  and  type
    date.....hmmm, skipped ahead  a month!@#$   Hitting Cancel on  the
    Date/Time Properties Dialog Applet will restore your machines date
    back to the original.

    How did Brett find  out such a dumb  ass bug that has  been around
    for 5 years?  He needed to find out what day of the week 3  months
    from a date was.  He happened  to be in server room that does  not
    include a calendar, but happened to be logged into corporate  PDC.
    Well the shit hit the fan.   Since he advanced the date 3  months,
    (then hit cancel),  it expired every  user account that  logged in
    during this time of advancing  the date and hitting cancel.   This
    included anyone that accessed  a network resource that  required a
    login,  (ie  printing).   That  wiped  out  about  half  of users.
    Then as well they renew  our Shiva firewall certs every  3 months.
    That blew away a few more  users.  Everything was upside down  for
    a while.   Good old  M$ couldnt  even help  me; they  wanted me to
    replace the Motherboard--lazy asses.

SOLUTION

    If  it's  any  consolation  at  all  this behavior has changed for
    Windows 2000.  You will have  to hit OK or Apply until  the change
    takes effect.