Can anyone tell me whether the initial bugs that surfaced when people first
installed Service Pack 2 have been fixed yet? When SP2 was first issued, my
computer retailer strongly advised me NOT to install Service Pack 2 until it
"settled down". Is it now reasonably safe to install SP2? If you don't
install Service Pack 2, does this mean you can't install all the various
security patches that have been issued after Service Pack 2 was released?

NF

No Frills wrote:
for the best security you will need sp2
and it usually works without a problem...although there is no gurantee
of course

if if does ruin your system
your choice is to boot to safe mode and uninstall it

or perform a repair installation
and then just add sp1

philo wrote:
Personally I never saw any of the hassles, it was pretty clearly
documented what wouldn't work, what got broken etc in the knowledge base
articles... I believe that the list has gone down from ~200 to ~50
pieces of software that don't work.

yep.

it's not that hard

"No Frills" <nofrills@nfr.co.nz> wrote in message
news:421248fb@clear.net.nz...
I put off installing SP-2 until a month ago for the same reason- I was
waiting for all the bugs to get ironed out. But as far as I know, SP-2
has never been modified since its initial release.

Read through this very helpful checklist prior to installing Service Pack
2: http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spackins.htm

You can still order (for free) the SP-2 CD from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/d...s/default.mspx

I followed the above checklist (most of it, anyway,) and installed SP-2
from the CD. The installation went ahead without incident. Since then,
I've disabled the SP-2 firewall and have returned to using ZA Pro as my
firewall. I've experienced no problems in the month since my SP-2 update.
If you should experience any problems, you might find this site helpful:
http://www.michna.com/kb/WxSP2.htm

On a recent visit to Windows Update, I noticed that SP-1 will soon be a
requirement prior to getting updates. At some point, the bar will
probably be raised to the SP-2 level.

Regards,
Ian.

No Frills wrote:
Others have answered most of your questions - but as to:
If you don't install Service Pack 2, does this mean you can't install
all the various security patches that have been issued after Service
Pack 2 was released?

The security updates for Windows that are released are installable (read
supportable) N-1 - ie XP ones will install on XPSP1 and XPSP2 but not
XPSP0. When XPSP3 come out that will shift to be installable on XPSP3
and XPSP2 and nothing downlevel

The new version of IE that was just announced this morning will only
install on XPSP2

So ovbiously for the most secure version of Windows XP, you want to be
on the XPSP2 baseline

"Ionizer" <me7@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:37f1ltF5aiptaU1@individual.net...
Thanks very much for these helpful replies. I wondered whether SP-2 had been
upgraded since its initial release, but if it hasn't and you just don't
install it, would virus programs such as Norton or AVG, together with a
firewall such as Zone Alarm, keep your computer protected? In other words,
are there real limitations to firewalls and virus programs in keeping your
computer fully protected from nasties, such that you really do have to
install Microsoft's large number of security patches? I wonder how likely it
is that the average user would really be vulnerable from all these so-called
Windows "vulnerabilities" if an up to date firewall and virus program is
present?

NF

Nathan Mercer wrote:
got a URL?

No Frills wrote:
it depends on what is done to secure the machine, if not running as
admin(unlike most home users), then yeah, it should be fine, although
it's not hard to keep up to date.

In article <37f02iF5a35u6U2@individual.net>, philo@privacy.net says...
Except I found that it didn't uninstall cleanly. Not at all.

-P.

"Dave - Dave.net.nz" <davenetnz@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:37f5dpF5bso6jU2@individual.net...
The Beta version of IE 7.0 is due this summer:

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/f...-15Updates.asp

http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/02/15/373104.aspx

Could it be that the popularity of Firefox is having an effect in Redmond?

--
Ian.

Dr. Harvie Wahl-Banghor <harvie_wahl-bangor@mindless.com> wrote:

No Frills wrote:
i'd install sp2 ...you won't get any more pop-ups!

Dave - Dave.net.nz wrote:
It was announced this morning at around 6AM NZ Time by Bill Gates at the
RSA Conference in his keynote address
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/rsa/

You can find a transcript of his keynote, the powerpoint decks and an
on-demand streamed webcast at

http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/s...02-15RSA05.asp

Cheers
Nathan

"No Frills" <nofrills@nfr.co.nz> wrote in message
news:421248fb@clear.net.nz...
Who is that idiot retailer?
There's bigger issues without SP2 than with it. It's not going to "settle
down" all by itself, which why there's been a few patches since then just to
fix a few more problems.

MS should be interested to know who that retailer is.

E. Scrooge

"Ionizer" <me7@privacy.net> wrote:

I think that would be a sure bet.

No Frills wrote:
http://www.bootdisk.com/xptop20.htm#1

"No Frills" <nofrills@nfr.co.nz> wrote in message
news:42125f12@clear.net.nz...
[snip]
I am a bit surprised that in the many posts in this thread since this one no
one has picked up on this.

If you install updates from MS - via SP2 or Windows update or whatever - you
are at least certain that vulnerbility fixes have come from the original
Windows vendor rather than relying on protection from a 3rd party supplier.

There is also the issue of just what Windows vulneribilities are covered by
your firewall/av software.

Consider this - does any AV or firwall vendor claim that by installing their
product you need never worry about Windows updates again? I dont recall
ever seeing this and I dont think I would trust any such claim. So it seems
to me that the best approach is to keep everything (including Windows) up to
date.

Crash.

No Frills wrote:
there is no point in waiting for it to "settle down".

Microsoft have been known to issue a slightly modified
service pack, eg NP4 SP6a, but that is rare. It might be the
only one.

Cheers,

Cliff


--

Barzoomian the Martian - http://barzoomian.blogspot.com

Thanks "Crash" for these thoughts. It would be very interesting to know
whether a firewall such as Zone Alarm can currently block "illegal" attempts
to sabotage Microsoft software. From my use of Zone Alarm, I would say it is
very efficient at blocking unwanted traffic, so I am happy to NOT install
SP-2 at all because my computer is running very nicely without it, and I
don't want all the SP-2 problems that other people have described. Can
anyone say with certainty that Norton antivirus and Zone Alarm, working
together, definitely provide insufficient protection against the Windows
vulnerabilities that Microsoft is incessantly trying to plug?

NF


"Crash" <notaname@notadomain.invalid> wrote in message
newslDQd.1809$1S4.196307@news.xtra.co.nz...

"Enkidu" <enkidu.com@com.cliffp.com> wrote in message
news:4213076f$1@news2.actrix.gen.nz...
Perhaps not, but I guess there is some benefit in waiting for a while before
installing SP-2, because programs that wouldn't work properly after SP-2 was
first released, may be modified later so that these problems are corrected?

NF