File indexing applications may indicate an incorrect file modified time on Windows 2000 (320834)

SYMPTOMS

On a computer that is running Microsoft Windows 2000, you may see incorrect records of file modified times. You may also receive incorrect notifications of changes to documents and to files from programs that index file changes, such as Microsoft SharePoint Services.

CAUSE

This problem occurs because some indexing programs read the file attribute modified time to determine whether the file has changed. The OLE32 function in Microsoft Office applications updates the file attribute modified time, although the file has not been modified.

RESOLUTION

Service pack information

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows 2000. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

260910 How to Obtain the Latest Windows 2000 Service Pack

Hotfix information

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

   Date         Time   Version        Size     File name
   --------------------------------------------------------
   23-Jul-2002  17:56  5.0.2195.5957  940,304  Ole32.dll
   23-Jul-2002  17:56  5.0.2195.5914  429,328  Rpcrt4.dll
   23-Jul-2002  17:56  5.0.2195.5957  186,128  Rpcss.dll
   13-Jun-2001  05:05  5.0.2195.3727    3,856  Svcpack1.dll

MORE INFORMATION

In Microsoft Windows 2000, changes to a file attribute or to the file content are stored as two separate file modified times. Applications that index the NTFS file system, such as Microsoft SharePoint Services, read the file attribute modified time to determine whether the file has changed.

However, the file attribute modified time of a file is updated when you use a program such as Microsoft Word to open and to close the file, even if you do not save it because the OLE32 function in Microsoft Office programs updates the file attribute modified time when you close a file.

Therefore, you will see incorrect records about file changes in any program that uses the file attribute modified time to index changes to the file system.

For additional information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

816915 New file naming schema for Microsoft Windows software update packages

824684 Description of the standard terminology that is used to describe Microsoft software updates

REFERENCES

For additional information about how to obtain a hotfix for Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

265173The Datacenter Program and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server product

For additional information about how to install multiple hotfixes with only one restart, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

296861 How to install multiple Windows updates or hotfixes with only one reboot