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[ChicoSelfs]

Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) provides new proactive security technologies for Windows XP to better defend against viruses, worms, and hackers. In addition to a more robust security infrastructure, SP2 improves the security configuration options of Windows XP and provides better security information to help users faced with security decisions.

A list of updates are available here
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;%5bLN%5d;811113

Download the full version in english here http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/5/165b076b-aaa9-443d-84f0-73cf11fdcdf8/WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe

[Berto]

Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) provides new proactive security technologies for Windows XP to better defend against viruses, worms, and hackers. In addition to a more robust security infrastructure, SP2 improves the security configuration options of Windows XP and provides better security information to help users faced with security decisions.

A list of updates are available here
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;%5bLN%5d;811113

Download the full version in english here http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/5/165b076b-aaa9-443d-84f0-73cf11fdcdf8/WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe

What's the link wit MC?

[paulr]

I've been running SP2 since release candidate 2 and have had no issues with MC.  Actually, I've had no issues with any software yet.

[DocLotus]

All the professionals say to wait and see for awhile before installing SP-2.

GOOD ADVICE

[LonWar]

I've been running SP2 since release candidate 2 and have had no issues with MC.  Actually, I've had no issues with any software yet.

I also have not had any problems...


Listening to: 'You Can't Kill Rock And Roll' from 'Diary Of A Madman' by 'Ozzy Osbourne' on Media Center 11

[Dragyn]

266MB?!? holy cripes... that will take at least 2hrs.

[KingSparta]

266MB?!? holy cripes... that will take at least 2hrs.

It took me 9 mins

[Alex B]

11 mins 16 secs.

However it may take some weeks until installation is ready.

(I am not going to do it yet. Keep on reporting, thanks.)

[paulr]

I live on the bleeding edge!  

Just installed SP2 final with no issues.  ESET has a beta version of NOD32 Anti-virus that is MS Security Center "aware" - installed with no problems.  MC 11 Alpha - installed with no problems...

Any other alpha or beta software I can try?  

[Dragyn]

Well I'm gonna install this bad boy...

If you don't here from me soon, it's because I died.

Wish me luck.

[Rizlaw]

If anyone is interested in slipstreaming their original WinXP CD with SP2, there is an excellent guide on how to do it at:

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2_slipstream.asp

For those, like me, who aren't familar with the term "slipstream", it's computer talk for making a new bootable Windows XP CD which integrates all of the SP2 files. It saves you the trouble, on a reinstall of XP, from having to separately download SP2 again after installing XP from your original disk which may not even have SP1a (if it's as old as my copy of XP).

[IlPadrino]

If anyone is interested in slipstreaming their original WinXP CD with SP2, there is an excellent guide on how to do it at:

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2_slipstream.asp

For those, like me, who aren't familar with the term "slipstream", it's computer talk for making a new bootable Windows XP CD which integrates all of the SP2 files. It saves you the trouble, on a reinstall of XP, from having to separately download SP2 again after installing XP from your original disk which may not even have SP1a (if it's as old as my copy of XP).

So slipstreaming with SP2 removes the need to install SP1?

[TimB]

Just upgraded to SP2, fast download, slow upgrade but I'm up and running on my laptop at least.

-=Tim=-

[Dragyn]

well that was fun.  it couldn't install because some files were in use (duh).

tried to cancel, was reverting back, then the computer shutdown. so it's partially installed meaning the darn thing won't boot.

now I'll have to take the hard drive out, copy files, reformat, install, move files back, reinstall everything, reconfigure everything...oh the joy!

I know what I'll be doing this weekend. I think I'm gonna upgrade my video card while I'm at since MC has most problems dealing with large lists/displays (at least on my rig)....and I want those pretty icons to work too.

dragyn over and out. psssh

[Jaguu]

Hey Dragyn,

you probably left MC running while you tried to install SP2.
You forgot that they usually say to close down all running applications before doing any kind of installation

I am waiting to install directly from Windows Update!


By the way slipstream is a really good thing. Unfortunately Microsoft does not provide any help on how to make a new bootable XP-SP2 CD. Fortunately there are some good descriptions on the net. Just enter "How to create a Windows XP Boot disk" in Google and you will come up with some gooddescriptions.

[Alex B]

I would do a full system backup before installing. My C: partition is only about 20 GB (on a 200 GB HD), so it is relatively fast to make dublicates of it. I use PowerQuest's Drive Image and old small HDs with HD racks for that.

[Phil Lee]

I've successfully upgraded one PC to SP2 at work and am evaluating it at the moment before I install it on other PC's. I'll install it at home too but first I'll use Ghost to back up my existing XP partitions.

[TimB]

Just completed upgrade on my desktop machine (to add to my earlier laptop upgrade), no problems.

-=Tim=-

[Rizlaw]

If anyone is interested in slipstreaming their original WinXP CD with SP2, there is an excellent guide on how to do it at:

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2_slipstream.asp

So slipstreaming with SP2 removes the need to install SP1?

In a word, Yes. Each new service pack release includes all of the patches and features of all prior service packs.

[TAFKAFEX]

Maybe a dumb question. Why should I upgrade to SP2? Is there any reason to do it? Besides the kick?

[DocLotus]

Yes, better security  

[Omni]

Maybe a dumb question. Why should I upgrade to SP2? Is there any reason to do it? Besides the kick?

Security is better.  <shrug>  (I think it will be a long while before anyone really believes that, including me. )  Also, there's more bug fixes than you can shake a stick at.

Windows XP SP2 Review

Read and decide for yourself.

[Omni]

If anyone is interested in slipstreaming their original WinXP CD with SP2, there is an excellent guide on how to do it at:

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2_slipstream.asp

Thank you so much for this tip and link!  It's just coincidental good timing, but I'm building myself a new system this weekend, and one of the chores I was literally dreading was the monotonous task of 1.) installing XP (original CD), 2.) updating to SP1, 3.) updating everything past SP1, and finally, 4.) updating to SP2.

This is great!!

Thanks!

[paulr]

If you used good security practices before SP2 (3rd party firewall, virus scanner, etc.), then it's not much of an improvement.  However, for the vast majority of XP users, it will increase security drastically (in my opinion).

[TAFKAFEX]

Security is better.  <shrug>  (I think it will be a long while before anyone really believes that, including me. )  Also, there's more bug fixes than you can shake a stick at....

Thanks for the link. This IS a good reason. I will do it.

[Omni]

Security is better.  <shrug>  (I think it will be a long while before anyone really believes that, including me. )  Also, there's more bug fixes than you can shake a stick at....

Thanks for the link. This IS a good reason. I will do it.

For the record, it's really Rizlaw you should thank for that particular link.    I have other links, but I happened to have that page currently open, so it's what I used.

[DocLotus]

It's like everything else Micro$oft, sooner or later you will run into programs that require SP2 to run similar to the way most current video cards require DirectX 9 to perform all functions.

I have already run into programs that require SP1 before they will run or some funtions will be unavaluable without DiretX 9 or SP1.

Also, there are some new worms out there that the new SP2 firewall will stop.

There are a lot of other reasons but what I am reading in all the magazines is that SP2 is highly recommended (after others have had it a while to find any problems).

It is always a good idea to stay current with all updates & patches.  After I patched Windows last summer several nasty worms hit hard but I was protected & had no problems.

It is a false sence for one to say "I don't really need them".  YES YOU DO... You just don't know it yet.

Wait for the next bunch of nasties to come around & if you are hit hard, you have no one but yourself to blame.

After you do the initial updates (all patches) it is really pretty easy to keep your system up to date.

The thing is to JUST DO IT then you will feel much better.

[Ce.D]

The single MOST important change in SP2 is to turn Windows firewall ON by default and to draw users notice to the need of using an anti-virus (but still NOT providing one)... assuming that almost 100% of Windows security problems this last days came from these two "holes", YES, SP2 is a definite improvement.

All the while, pre-SP2 installation are certainly as secure (from a practical and pragmatical point of view ) considering you: 1. installed an anti-virus and keep it up-to-date; 2. turn the firewall on. I NEVER had any virus, adware, intrusion or anything security-related-alike since I have been using XP (I just took the two basic steps mentionned previously right from the start). I cross my fingers and touch woods as I write this  

I think all this fuss about "such an improvement in regards with security" is kind of a cleverly adjusted marketing reaction to the critics directed towards Windows and its "lack" of security over the last months (thanks to "I Love You", "Blaster", "NetSky" and others).

I you have a secure pre-SP2 installation and are worried about possible compatibility issues and don't have time now to troubleshoot a failed SP2 upgrade tentative (one never knows), just wait and see a couple more time

One says "don't change a working system"...  

[TimB]

Waiting awhile certainly makes sense (tho' I didn't do it), however anyone that thinks that they can ignore upgrading to SP2 in the longer-term (and I don't think I've seen anyone here say that) is fooling themselves.

-=Tim=-

[JimH]

I think all this fuss about "such an improvement in regards with security" is kind of a cleverly adjusted marketing reaction to the critics directed towards Windows and its "lack" of security over the last months (thanks to "I Love You", "Blaster", "NetSky" and others).

How true, how true!

[DocLotus]

Win XP with SP1 was more secure then Win XP without SP1 from last summer's nasties.

The same thing will happen with SP2.

I personally run the following for protection...

* SP1 with ALL updates.
* SP2 (as soon as I believe it is safe to do so).
* All indications (so far) are that SP2 is going to be ok.
* Norton System Works with Anti-Virus in Auto-Protect mode.
* A weekly virus scan of my whole hard drive.
* Opera 7.51 browser to stay away from IE's security problems.
* Ad-Aware SE Plus for other nasties.
* Sybot Search & Destroy for some more nasties.
* Ella for SPAM Control (integrated into Outlook) to totally take care of SPAM.

It sometimes seem like we are under constant attack from the bad guys and I guess to a certain extent, we are.

[Mastiff]

One says "don't change a working system"...  

That was Buddha, right?  

Anyway, I have been having firewalls and antivirus coming out my posterior for several years (at least 1998, maybe earlier), so I don't think I'll bother. My guess is that SP2 is going to bloat the install even more. So the boot and reboot times will be longer, and all kinds of suspend/resume. On the other hand, if software requires it, I will install. I'm really dreading when all software demands Longhorn, since I won't be using that no matter what. I really don't like the way M$ forces DRM and unnecessary security options down people's throat! Come to think of it, maybe there's another sneaky DRM scheme in SP2?

[DocLotus]

Ah...I love a good conspiracy theory.

[Mastiff]

No need for theories when you're dealing with Micro$soft's legal team (the programmers aren't the big bad wolfs people think - it's the legal team that has them by the short and curlies, so to speak.

[Jaguu]

Sucessfully created bootable WXP-SP2 cd with integrated service pack 2!
Works flawlessly!

[NoCodeUK]

I have it installed and if anything I think my boot time is faster as a result.  I had firewall and AV protection before but there is no bad thing in being cautious

Adam

[JONCAT]

Although it's not hard to restore your system if you encounter real issues, especially using Acronis, I am leary about installing SP2. I have been tweaking my system left & right and I tend to disable a lot of services to the point where I find a nice balance of security & perfomance. Getting USB 2.0 to work with Nforce etc., all kinds of issues that I would rather "disturb".
Call me pessimistic but I do heed that creed "If it ain't broke don't fix it" because to some very real extent this is so true and I am just tired of tweaking...on the other hand, I'll probably come around and see what it does for me when I am ready to tweak some more! LOL

Maybe I'll simply install the Critical Updates but right now I am running physical firewall, software firewall (Agnitum), & Kaspersky AV; I feel pretty safe. I run a scan nightly and run SpySweeper and some of the afrmentioned spyware tools every now and then. I just don't feel the urgent need to do this.

jc

[MGD_King]

I just had to rebuild my PC this week because of a power failure caused several Windows system files to become corrupted, and the first thing I did after installing Windows was to install SP2. So far, I like it and I haven't noticed any problems with it.

I, too, run a physical firewall, a software firewall, anti-virus, and several malware detectors. Paranoid? Yes, but we all should be. Protected? We can't be protected enough, so the security updates are welcomed. The way I see it is I lock my door at night when I go to bed. Why should I not lock my PC as best as I can?

[Dragyn]

well I actually did get sp2 installed but I'll have to reformat again (4th time now).

Let me tell you a little story...

Started installing SP2 and it crapped out. Like I said before, I was going to cancel and the pc restarted leaving it partially installed. Ok, big problem because I had a few files on the drive I wanted to keep and I couldn't boot up. Yeah, I know I should have moved them first but I live on the edge.

Anyway, I moved the HD to another computer...and that computer could not read the drive. Now I'm thinkin 'oh no!! What am I going to do?'. So I moved it back.

Installing WinXp and thought the 'Repair' function would actually 'Repair' XP. What a load of crap that is. So I had to reinstall again into a new directory. Not a big deal cause I was gonna format anyway.

Now the thing boots. Wonderful! Moved my files to the other drive (which I should have done to begin with) and reformatted the drive.

Then I started installing XP. Going good for awhile until I realized I was using the original XP disc. SP1 is able to read large hard drives (where all my files are) and I couldn't read the disk. So I had to reinstall XP yet again so I could get to SP2. I didn't slipstream this but plan on it soon.

Great! now I have XP SP1 installed. Installed SP2. Works fine. However....

As I was moving my drive from the other computer into this one, I fried the motherboard's USB and PS/2 ports....Ooops! So now I need a new motherboard....which is the icing on the cake! What else could go wrong?

I just got fed up with everything and decided to just buy a whole new computer. No more 800MHz for me!

So now I have to reformat yet again and put XP Home on this PC and XP Pro on my new PC coming in a couple days. I just bought the motherboard, cpu, case, fan, psu and ram. I have the other stuff....oh and a new mouse after I threw it against the wall and killled it. Poor thing.

This computer is about 5years old now so it's definately the right time for me to upgrade. I didn't plan to upgrade like this though...

[Nolonemo]

So now I have to reformat yet again and put XP Home on this PC and XP Pro on my new PC coming in a couple days. I just bought the motherboard, cpu, case, fan, psu and ram. I have the other stuff....oh and a new mouse after I threw it against the wall and killled it. Poor thing.

Dragyn, since you're starting from scratch, here's a suggestion.  I have my OS installed on the C: partition of my primary HD, I install apps (except for rude apps that don't let me choose the install directory) to a different partition, data on another, etc.  My C partition is around 12GB.  I image the C partition regularly to a different networked PC, and just about every time before I install anything that might screw up the system files on C:.  I upgraded to XP from Win2k recently, and all I had to do was to image the C partiton to the other PC; in fact I ran into a problem (because I installed by booting from the CD and not by running setup from inside windows, so I did a clean install instead of the uprgrade that I wanted to and so lost all my menus and settings) and all I had to do was to restore the imaged partition and I was back where I started from with good old 2k.  The beauty of this scheme is that I didn't have to  back up all 60GB I have on the primary HD before screwing with the OS.  BTW, I also have a backup program that runs scheduled standalone backups of designated data folders to the 2nd hard drive on the PC, the theory being that it's unlikely that both disks will die at the same time (although I suppose the MB could go psycho and fry everything).

I may go back to Win2k, even with XP set to the classic look I miss the clean spare old windows look, XP is like the OS OD'd on gummie bears.  Anyway, good luck as you proceed.

Nolo

[TAFKAFEX]

Thanks for the link. This IS a good reason. I will do it.

...next week maybe?

[Jaguu]

Well Dragyn,
everyone now and then has those horror experiences one would think it can only occur to others, so I feel very sorry for you and all the time you are spending basically just for nothing, maybe with the excecption of the joy of having a new pc and a clean setup. Coming out of different such stories myself, here some of the lessons learned:

1) a pc is not a car. I your car breaks, you go to your garage, get a spare car for the time your own car is repaired and your life runs on rather smoothly. This is not the case with a pc. That's the reason I have two pc's with a separate data disk which is replicated from pc1 to pc2. If pc1 breaks, I can easily startup pc2 and go on. This only needs replication discipline as your data on pc2 is as old as your last replication.

2) All my data (docs, music, images, video) on a separate disk (120GB for the time being), so it can be used on another pc independent of current configuration.

3) Small partition for XP that is being ghosted on a regular basis (using Drive Image 7).

4) separate partition for programs (also ghosted). My next fresh install will join C: and P: (programs) again, as they are not more than 8-9 GB altoghether and ghosting is quite quick.

5) a separate partition with all software ready to install such as a slipstreamed version of XP-SP2, Office CD's online and all other software I use. When I do a fresh install (which never had to do with XP) I only install basic software I use on a daily basis. All the rest is installed on demand.

6) One step is still missing which I will finally complete next week: Data Backup to an external drive to be stored away in a safe place.

7) With this kind of setup I could allow myself to skip any kind of Raid configuration and could avoid to backup data on DVD's

Oh yes, and one more lesson learned the hard way: Never help a friend that still runs Windows98!

[TAFKAFEX]

Jaguu

Nevertheless. Thanks for your tips. Sooner or later I will use them.

[Mastiff]

I just got fed up with everything and decided to just buy a whole new computer. No more 800MHz for me!

This computer is about 5years old now so it's definately the right time for me to upgrade.

I'll say! I don't think I have anything like that still running! But I may have at least five in parts... In fact my kids (7 & 8 years old) have AMD XP 2600's, and I have an AMD 2200 in my car...which I am about to upgrade, but that's because of another problem, not because  it's too slow in it self.  

[yorri]

My 2 cents, no problems here  

Love the new security center and features that novice users need to be informed about....although will a novice user really install this lol

[Dragyn]

and I have an AMD 2200 in my car...which I am about to upgrade

I just have a 500MHz in mine and I don't plan on upgrading that anytime soon. It does a great job except I need to work on my little 'power problem'. I'll probably upgrade if MC ever becomes too advanced for it.

4yrs of rough ridin' and bumpin' and it's still working (orig. HD).

For those that don't know of my system, check here:
http://www.gpgtx.com

[LonWar]

and I have an AMD 2200 in my car...which I am about to upgrade

I just have a 500MHz in mine and I don't plan on upgrading that anytime soon. It does a great job except I need to work on my little 'power problem'. I'll probably upgrade if MC ever becomes too advanced for it.

4yrs of rough ridin' and bumpin' and it's still working (orig. HD).

For those that don't know of my system, check here:
http://www.gpgtx.com

Man, that is a car... The only thing missing is me in the driver seet...

[Mastiff]

I just have a 500MHz in mine and I don't plan on upgrading that anytime soon. It does a great job except I need to work on my little 'power problem'. I'll probably upgrade if MC ever becomes too advanced for it.

My problem is that keeping track of 50K+ tracks and three zones makes the system unresponsive if the computer isn't up to it. It was annoying with the 1200 Duron I had up to almost a year ago, but this system is coping very nicely. I might upgrade the WLAN, though, the current AP I'm using (for NetRemote, of course) is slow. It's one of the first APs for 11 mbit WLAN, and I would guess that the real throughput, even at close range, is less than 1 mbit.

[Sauzee]

I installed SP2 a week ago. Running fine - barely notice any difference.  

Installed it yesterday on a couple of PC's for PC illiterate family members.  Again no issues.

The family members do however notice a difference because of the new security centre and pop-up blocker on IE.

Moral - this SP2 isn't much to get excited about for most users of this forum, but it's great for less savvy PC users.

[JimH]

Microsoft published a list of applications that have known problems with SP2.

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