"This lends new meaning to the term 'March Madness,'" he said.

One problem with the whole process, Haight said, is that federal lawmakers didn't fully know the consequences of the DST change when it was approved and signed into law in 2005. Even now, he said, U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who co-sponsored the measure, has information on his Web site that makes it sound like the change would be a minor issue for computer users. "The site says to 'point your browser to the Microsoft patch and download it,'" which is entirely too simplistic for corporate data centers, Haight said. "It's clear they don't understand all the cascading effects, especially in the business world."

Things got even more complicated in recent weeks when IT vendors released corrected patches to replace earlier DST-related updates. "Some Microsoft Knowledge Base articles designed to step people through Outlook or Exchange updates have had many revisions because of updates to tools," he said. "The guidelines have been changing too, adding to the confusion. It's been affecting many other technology providers, too."

Markey's Web site advises constituents that "your computer's internal clock will also need to be adjusted because most have been programmed for older DST dates. Fixing this minor glitch is as easy as downloading an automatic fix. Point your browsers to the sight that corresponds with your operating system and quickly download the appropriate software patches." The site lists vendor patches only from Microsoft and Apple.

A Markey spokesman said Friday that the congressman does understand that the DST changes were "not a simple change" for IT departments, but added that "the energy-saving benefits are worth the changes."