SP2, do i really need it?

[Shannon]

I have heard so many bad things about it I am afraid to install it. I heard it like wrecks all your programs and stuff. It can run the coding, like it won't let the computer process the coding or something so it doesn't work. I heard anti-virus doesn't even work.

You've only heard the rare cases where a user upgrades to SP2, some of their old software doesn't work, they *****. If every XP SP2 user voted in a poll you'd find that the results in favour of XP SP2 would be greatly larger than those who say nay to it.

Wrong. If anything, there is better virus' protection, due to the new Security Manager.

Bah. That thing is useless. I disabled it completely and if I could be bothered, I'd remove it from the XP disc completely.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

How do you disable it completely?

 

[toyomatt84]

Bah. That thing is useless. I disabled it completely and if I could be bothered, I'd remove it from the XP disc completely.

Agreed, but if you're trying to conserve as much space as possible, it's not the WORST thing for your pc.

How do you disable it completely?

Double click the sheild image in your taskbar, and bring up the Security Manager. Then on the left column, there should be some settings, as well as, if you double click each item that's monitored, you can go through step by step and remove monitoring on all of them.

 

[Shannon]

Double click the sheild image in your taskbar, and bring up the Security Manager. Then on the left column, there should be some settings, as well as, if you double click each item that's monitored, you can go through step by step and remove monitoring on all of them.

That and:

Start > Run > services.msc. Find Security Centre, stop it and then disable it.

 

[desiguy2447]

Everyone should install SP2 for windows XP provided your computer doesn't have any problems during and after the install.

In my case my HP Pavilion a640N will not restart after SP2 is installed and it is so nice to know that the HP tech people don't know how to fix the problem. So like many Hp Pavilion owners SP2 cannot be installed till HP figures out a fix for the restart issue. (Now I wish my HP came with SP2 preinstalled from HP).

It is very annoying for me because I'm also a computer tech person and have installed about 250 SP2 on Dell computers where I work with no problems.

If you decide not to install SP2 just keep your XP up todate with all the critical updates and you will be fine.

 

[Burnout]

SP2 isn't bad, as long as you install it right after a reinstall of Windows. If you install it after you have all your programs loaded and everything, it can cause problems. So, next time you reformat/install windows, pop SP2 on there as well, before you install the other programs.

 

[sUn]

I installed SP2 over all my programs, I didn't get any problems. But this was the windows update version of SP2. 👍

 

[Jimmy Enslashay]

I don't care much for it. What other benefits does it have over added security to IE (I have FF so I don't care for it)?

(Sorry if it was explained before. 56K + downloading a large file + going to go to bed = I can't be bothered looking.)

 

[LoudMusic]

It's not just IE security - it's security for the entire operating system.

 

[Arwin]

Yes. You need it. If half of the changes in SP2 were present in SP1, there'd be no Blaster worm and MyDoom. It's people who fail to patch that spread these things.

Naive. In fact, early adaption often just opens new holes. The earlier versions come with amazing bugs. There are at least two significant holes in the new SP2 firewall for instance. In the meantime, just installing the small 23-026 (or what was it again) and follow up patch (can't remember) was enough to stop the Blaster worm and MyDoom. SP's rarely come with any urgent patching, hotfixes will have been released for those long before that.

The only reason to occasionally upgrade to the next Service Pack is because some software works better with it. But that only happens about a year after the SP has been released, and there is little urgency to upgrade earlier than that, if you ask me.

 

[LoudMusic]

Naive. In fact, early adaption often just opens new holes. The earlier versions come with amazing bugs. There are at least two significant holes in the new SP2 firewall for instance. In the meantime, just installing the small 23-026 (or what was it again) and follow up patch (can't remember) was enough to stop the Blaster worm and MyDoom. SP's rarely come with any urgent patching, hotfixes will have been released for those long before that.

The only reason to occasionally upgrade to the next Service Pack is because some software works better with it. But that only happens about a year after the SP has been released, and there is little urgency to upgrade earlier than that, if you ask me.

YOU ARE WRONG -- Unpatched systems spread viruses. This is why they make patches!

Install the damn updates!

 

[qtfromcali]

Dear desiguy,
I have had the same problem with my HP. I got disks, talked to MS for hours, and just don't know what to do. I found that it did restart from safe mode. So, the last thing (for the 3rd time this fall) I did was to uninstall SP2 on my HP, run Norton and Adware programs, get the updates from HP & MS, and then reinstall SP 1st from the disks I got from MS and then I went thru everything again and did it over the internet. I still can't restart. What did you end up doing? This is really frustrating!!!!!!!!!!!!! Any advice? I am at the end of my rope. Thanks in advance.

Everyone should install SP2 for windows XP provided your computer doesn't have any problems during and after the install.

In my case my HP Pavilion a640N will not restart after SP2 is installed and it is so nice to know that the HP tech people don't know how to fix the problem. So like many Hp Pavilion owners SP2 cannot be installed till HP figures out a fix for the restart issue. (Now I wish my HP came with SP2 preinstalled from HP).

It is very annoying for me because I'm also a computer tech person and have installed about 250 SP2 on Dell computers where I work with no problems.

If you decide not to install SP2 just keep your XP up todate with all the critical updates and you will be fine.