WindowsXP Service Pack 2

[Wendy]

What can you tell me about it? I've heard that it is good and I've heard that people have problems with their pc after installing it.

[[N]eto]

Yeah, for some reason my Windows Update icon in my system tray won't go away, although it isn't downloading a thing. Other than that, I haven't noticed anything wrong. But if anything weird happens, I could always use System Restore to restore my PC to a time before I installed the pack.

[Wendy]

These are just a couple of things I've heard "after installing it you have to restart your comp and that after restart windows refused to work, after some "trying to fix something or other it started giving a blue screen"

I also heard that somebody had his comp messed up for a couple of days because of SP2. He couldn't install XP, Linux, or 98SE.

[Lesjordans]

its gr8 ive got it

[[N]eto]

It depends on the way your computer reacts to it. If it starts giving me problems, I'll just System Restore my PC (or call my manufacturer). Simple as that.

[Wendy]

What exactly does it do? What's so great about it?

[[N]eto]

It updates your security and may fix any bugs/errors XP may have come with, and protects you from any new worms/viruses that may attack your PC.

[Nitrous]

I am just staying with SP1. No problems with this PC apart from Java Script and some links not working.

[Redgore]

SP2 brings with it major bug fixes and little security enhancements, It turns on the built in firewall by default now but gived you more control over what the firewall does. It also has limited anti virus capabilities. If you have XP pro it will be delivered to you by automatic updating. However if the automatic updating is set right you can tell it not to download or install unless you give the go ahead.

[Wendy]

So it fixes problems with the computer itself, not just virus related problems? Is it worth it? I'm worried that my comp will crash, freeze, or whatnot. Nobody on this forum seems to have any problems with it. Members on another forum have had problems I mentioned before.

[Redgore]

the freezing happens only on some machines. If you want to know wether it will happen for you you need to contact your machines maker such as dell or whatever to check with them.

[Wendy]

I have an emachine with microsoft windows xp home edition.

[[N]eto]

Go for it.

[Wendy]

How long does it take to download and install?

[[N]eto]

I'm not exactly sure how long it took me, but I do remember it saying it was between 75-250MB. If you have a high speed connection, it should be no problem. It took me less than 10 minutes, I believe.

[Wendy]

Thanks! :-)

[[N]eto]

No problem. Hope it causes you no problems, or minor annoying ones like my Windows Update icon never going away, haha...

[Wendy]

I just installed it. So far so good.

[[N]eto]

Let's hope it stays that way. =)

[Wendy]

I had to get rid of it.

[[N]eto]

How come? What problems did you encounter?

[MyDoom.Backdoor]

I had to get rid of SP2 on mine too. It wasn't working correctly with the security features of my firewall from my DSL internet and it wouldn't work right with some other things..and my DSL's firewall seems to be better since I've never had much problems before, so yeah.

SP1 is just fine for me anyways.

[[N]eto]

What kind of problems did you have? My webcam doesn't seem to work on any messenger...

[Wendy]

I already had McAfee Internet Security Suite 6.0 on my comp., which has VirusScan, Personal Firewall. PrivacyService, and Spamkiller. It seems that the firewall, etc. which comes with windows xp sp2 and the McAfee were vetoing (I guess that's the word I'm looking for) each other out. I could log online, but Internet Explorer wouldn't open. I kept getting those "Microsoft Internet Explorer has encountered a problem..yada yada yada" Pages wouldn't loadup. Maybe it's because the comp. I have is one of those that has multiple accounts. (I have my side, my husband has his, and when our kids are old enough to go online they will have their own sides.) Who knows. It works for some, and not for others.

[MyDoom.Backdoor]

I already had McAfee Internet Security Suite 6.0 on my comp., which has VirusScan, Personal Firewall. PrivacyService, and Spamkiller. It seems that the firewall, etc. which comes with windows xp sp2 and the McAfee were vetoing (I guess that's the word I'm looking for) each other out. I could log online, but Internet Explorer wouldn't open. I kept getting those "Microsoft Internet Explorer has encountered a problem..yada yada yada" Pages wouldn't loadup. Maybe it's because the comp. I have is one of those that has multiple accounts. (I have my side, my husband has his, and when our kids are old enough to go online they will have their own sides.) Who knows. It works for some, and not for others.

That's pretty lame. =/

[Wendy]

That's pretty lame. =/
+
What?

[Stryker82]

SP2 brings with it major bug fixes and little security enhancements, It turns on the built in firewall by default now but gived you more control over what the firewall does. It also has limited anti virus capabilities. If you have XP pro it will be delivered to you by automatic updating. However if the automatic updating is set right you can tell it not to download or install unless you give the go ahead.

I'm on WinXP Home edition, i set my widnows updates to autmoatic. I never knew why my automatic update was on for the past 4 days until yesterday i went to the site and searched for updates, up came SP2 and showed it at 41% (of 92MB!!) On 26k thats a lot... Well right now it's 47%...

Infmormation for SP2 can be found here:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=842242

I dont need SP2 (For the firewall anyways), I've got ISS's Black Ice Firewall, Norton 2004 Pro, as well as a number of Spyware and IP blocking tools like Peerguardian, and Ad-Watch...

Black Ice - http://www.digitalriver.com/dr/v2/ec_MAIN.Entry10?V1=253470&PN=1&SP=10023&xid=26412&CID=0&DSP=&CUR=840&PGRP=0&CACHE_ID=0

[Shadowfax]

It is supposed to work with the virus programs, but I guess that version of McAfee does not support Windows SP2.

The good thing about it is, is that it has pop-up blocker and it lets no ActiveX programs go through.

Stryker...what do you need all those programs for? I do not think that some hacker would really care about a personal computer.

[Redgore]

There is such a thing as too much :P however personal computers are very useful for CRACKERS as they can be used for slave machines, this makes the attack look like its coming from your machine not theirs.

[Richardc269]

I installed SP2 as well. And it never gave me any errors/problems. But it gave that stupid thing about supporting my virus/firewall, and I just said "Screw you, I monitor my own crap", so I turned that thing off. Honestly the only good thing I see in it, is it blocks unwanted ActiveX controls, works great for that. I've been a computer user since I was around 8, I'm 21 now, thats 13 years experience lol. When I had Windows 98 SE, I would get blue screens and "illegal operation" errors within a month up the kazoo. I got so pissed with it, I finally resorted to XP Pro. (I used to totally hate XP), after I got XP, I got used to the way it looked (Although I made the back ground and all the features look like 98), I really like XP because I hardly "ever" get any errors or never get blue screens anymore. XP is so much more stable than 98, it's amazing. I got so much crap on this computer, XP handles it supurb compared to what 98 could of done.

I'd like to say, never buy Dells or Compaq's or any of those crappy computers. Sure they might be cheap, but thats cuz they got crappy equipment, their hardware totally sucks balls. If you wanna upgrade, you gatta upgrade with THEIR stuff because only their stuff will fit in their motherboard. Plus, building your own computer, (AMD or Atholon), is pretty cheap too, unless you buy top of the line equipment. I prefer Atholons over anything else because they're such great computers. Atholons are supposed to be 17% (or more), faster than Pentuim 3's. My computer can handle most top of the line stuff. It'll play Halo pretty good at a good quality (1024x726) Or whatever it is.

If you own a Dell or something with XP Pro...good luck not having any errors with SP2, that computer will most likely screw up. They can't handle anything besides their own stuff. I heard XP Home has a crapload of errors compared to XP Pro. I think Home was built to handle more gaming and stuff than Pro was. Pro was supposed to be business programming and stuff like that, but it turned out the other way around I think. Kinda like Windows 2000 is made for Programming, and 98 was made for gaming, 95 was for programming. Turned out, both 98 and ME totally suck. ME was supposed to be XP/98 fused together, didn't turn out that good. I had ME, it was okay...until I got blue screens and "illegal operations" up the kazoo. I got pretty pissed, lol. Anyway...I hope I didn't bore all of you, lol.

Rich