Windows XP Service Pack 2

[Cadman]

Well, as you know Microsoft has released Service Pack 2, what do you think about it and have you downloaded it yet? I downloaded and installed it yesterday and everything seems to work fine, still working with the added features.


Cadman - Member TeamTNT

[insertwackynamehere]

I'm going to clean up my comp, back it up, and then install it

[Arioch]

Already installed it on the 5 XP machines at home.

NO problems whatsoever beyond having to update the BIOS on one of the laptops.

[Opulent]

I heard that there might be some bugs to work out(security issues that haven't been fleshed out -- but I have no proof of that)... but one would think it should definitely be an improvement on an already good product.

[Bloodshedder]

Guess I'll have to give it a shot installing it on my laptop then.

[Dron]

im going to install it tomorrow

[Murdoch]

Installed on both my machines. Clean install on one, overtop a somewhat messy installation on the other. No problems whatsoever in either case. A clean install is probably a good idea if you can do it though.

[Relica Religia]

Got it installed perfectly, no problems. That new Windows Security Center thing kinda annoyed me at first, but I just disabled it and away I went.

[gatewatcher]

Heh, I wonder if there are any secret validity checks included in sp2.

[Szymanski]

Installed it and reinstalled video card drivers (because it hoses them). It works ok. There is already an apparent flaw in the new security centre but I haven't experienced any problems yet.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/25/xpsp2_security_crater/

[DoomUK]

I've turned off my auto-updates, and I won't be getting it until they iron out the 'flaws'. XP is unstable at the best of times...

[Arioch]

What makes you think you're so clever and cool if there's already malicious code running at administrator level credentials?

Hint: spoofing the Security Center is the least of your worries at that point.

With the FUD surrounding this alleged "flaw" you'd think that maybe these alleged security companies have ulterior motives for scaring people off of making their computers safer.

[Sephiroth]

i installed it, works fine for me. i do however get more freezes than before, but i need to update some other thing son the laptop.
when u install its gonna take a while, 3-60 minutes

[Verdale]

Sephiroth said:

i installed it, works fine for me. i do however get more freezes than before, but i need to update some other thing son the laptop.
when u install its gonna take a while, 3-60 minutes

Wow, 3 to 60 minutes is a big gap. I've left my computer on for four days now, since it said it started downloading it, but I don't think it's done yet. Is there a way to check on it or something?

[Sephiroth]

download it manualy. however it is big, like 200MB or something. dialup user? get it from a friend.

good god dont mess with it if you have dialup.

i ment it take between 30 and 60 minutes. i did it on an older laptop
1.2Ghz athlone4 and 512MB RAM

[Verdale]

I have ADSL, (about 312 kb/s max) and how do I download it manually? When I went to their site, it told me to turn on auto-updates (which I despise) and download it that way.

[Relica Religia]

Go to Start>All Programs>Windows Update, then download it when it pops up.

[Murdoch]

Szymanski said:

There is already an apparent flaw in the new security centre but I haven't experienced any problems yet.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/25/xpsp2_security_crater/

Ridiculous. The chances of this "crater" being successfully exploited are roughly the same as those of me getting laid tonight.

XP is unstable at the best of times...

Check the software you're running then run a hardware diagnostic. My family is running it on 5 five computers (two are mine, one each for Mom, sister and Grandmother) and it almost never crashes. Even if it does, it's usually software, not the system itself. Rogue software can hurt even the best system. A shinning example is my TV Tuner card software, which under some conditions locks up both 98SE and XP. Similary if there's something up with your hardware. Overall, my two XP systems give me less grief than the OS X Panther machine I use at work.

Ditch Internet Explorer if you haven't already and use something like Mozilla Firefox. A big chunk of the security flaws are related to IE. Don't use it and you've got a much lesser chance of becoming a victim.

[Sephiroth]

you can download it from their site. i did that, i never use the automatic update. i do however check to see what patches are out. as stated most are for IE and outlook, i ignore these because i dont use them. however the download is large, over 200MB. automatic update might be a bit too slow, everyone and their mother is doing it.

[Arioch]

The express update isn't anywhere near as large.

[Sporku]

Heh, the Firewall is even more retarded than the old one. It's pretty bad when it blocks programs that don't even use the internet at all (Example: PhotoShop, and Doom Builder).

Of course, I've no need for some stupid software firewall when I have a hardware one. And it doesn't sit there and block every program saying "omg it may be potentially harmful to your computer".

[Arioch]

My installs of Photoshop (7.0 and 8.0) didn't trigger that. Are you sure you're not trojaned in some way, or possibly using a PS plugin that opens up a port on the network?

By the way, it simply blocks those programs from opening and listening to a port on any network interface, and does not block any attempt to access external network resources. This is only good for blocking outside access in case you do have a trojan installed (to prevent further exploit and use of your machine as a spam zombie, for example).

[Verdale]

It went off when I opened WinAmp, then I turned it's shitface off.

That'll shut it up.