Y2K Advice from the Agencies

President's Council on Y2K (www.y2k.gov):

"Some 'common sense' things we all should do-especially during the winter months when weather events can cause temporary outages and disruptions in local services-are to have batteries for flashlights and radios, a three-day supply of water and nonperishable goods, and to ensure that your car gas tank does not go below half full."

Federal Emergency Management Agency (www.fema.gov/y2k):

"There are no simple answers or hard and fast rules about whether or not your home PC is vulnerable to the Y2K bug. Generally, if you bought a new one in the last year or two and use it for simple functions, it should cause no problem. However, if you have an older computer or use elaborate applications, the chances of problems are much higher. What is clear is that before 2000 rolls around, save all your important files on a floppy disk and create hard copies."

U.S. Consumer Gateway (www.consumer.gov/y2k/index.html):

"Make a list of your household products with a calendar function. Check the manufacturer's Web site or contact the manufacturer by phone or mail to find out compliance status.

"If you have a bank, mutual fund or brokerage account, start to keep records of any transactions that you make at least a year in advance of the millennium. If you use your computer to make any of these transactions, download the records of your transactions and keep them on a backup diskette and print copies for your files.

"If you have a mortgage, car loan or other debts, keep your canceled checks as proof of the payments you've made. Ask your mortgage or car lender for a statement of payments already made and those to come with the amounts allocated to interest, principal and escrow.

"If your credit cards expire after 1/1/00, carry a credit card with an earlier expiration date as a backup in case a retailer's equipment is unable to process the 00 card."

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (www.fdic.gov/about/y2k):

"Get a copy of your credit report early in 1999 and if you spot a problem, get it corrected promptly. Then, in 2000, get another copy of your updated report and check again for errors."