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Return to Nov 2004 Return to 2004 Meetings Windows XP, Service Pack 2 – Comments by Dick Curry I want to wind up all I have remaining to say about Microsoft’s Service Pack 2 (SP 2). Generally speaking those of us who have installed SP2 have done so without any problems that we were unable to work out. Notwithstanding, as you know, the Technical Press has raised some issues. I would like to address some of the issues that have been raised and to provide some suggestions on what you can do to prepare for downloading and installing Microsoft’s latest security upgrade to its Windows XP operating system. First: This information only relates to those who have a Windows XP operating system on your computer. If you use Windows 2000, ME, 98SE, or earlier Windows operating systems skip to something else. Second: There is a hardcore group that responds negatively and are outspoken against Microsoft no matter what they do or how well they do it so some things written about SP 2 need to be read with a grain of salt. Still, there are valid issues that have been raised and although the number of people impacted are almost insignificant compared to the number of people who have or who are going to install SP 2, as a percent, it still pays to be informed to help ensure you are not one of those very small percent of people that are plagued. Third: The installation package is large. I am told it is over 250 MB in size. If you have a dial-up Internet connection it may take you over 8 hours to download and install SP 2. With broadband it took me less than 45 minutes. The good news is that the download and installation process, once initiated, works in the background. You can walk away from your computer or use it to perform other functions, even open up other web pages and work on the Internet. Also, if you are disconnected from Microsoft or the Internet before the installation process is complete you can reconnect to Microsoft later and the download will resume where it left off. Another good thing is you do not have to answer questions or make decisions during the installation process. What a blessing!! When was the last time you were installing a program and a screen popped up and asked you a question then gave you several choices (if you were lucky) and you didn’t have a clue what the question was all about let along what the choices meant and you knew that if you guessed wrong you would not know how to get back to make another choice and for sure your computer would hang up if you made the wrong choice? The exception to the question-asking by the SP 2 program was one, however, it was one I greatly appreciated. This occurred after the installation process was over and I rebooted my computer. I have my own anti-virus program and firewall program which I prefer over what Microsoft offers as part of the SP 2 package (keep in mind that Microsoft installs an anti-virus program and a firewall program on your computer, with SP 2, to ensure that users who do not have these programs installed will be forced, for their own benefit and safety, to use them). But I was concerned that Microsoft would, without asking and without my approval, set my default settings and Registry entries to use their programs and force me to figure out how to change things back to the way I wanted my computer to operate. Not so! On rebooting, a window opened stating that Microsoft recognized I had a current Norton A/V system installed and did I wish to continue its use – I noted “yes.” Then a second screen opened stating that Microsoft recognized that I had Zone Alarm firewall installed and did I wish to continue its use – and again I said “yes.” Easy!! Fourth: Problems that can arise seem to fall in one or more of the following areas: Conflicts may occur with some equipment drivers and software programs that have not been approved by Microsoft and where this software is in violation of standards and protocols established by Microsoft for software developers. Issues may occur when the parameters of the computer only marginally meet the requirements for Windows XP. This is particularly true regarding Memory. If your computer has 128 MB or less of memory you may notice that your computer works much slower or not at all with SP 2 installed. I read recently that some older computers may have out-of-date BIOS that may conflict with SP 2, but my guess is that such a computer would have insufficient resources to operate Windows XP in the first place. I have listed below the steps I took in advance of downloading and installing SP 2 and, if you have not yet installed SP 2 yourself, they are steps I recommend you take. Microsoft has a number of links within its website domain that you should go to and avail yourself of the information they make available. In particular go to Microsoft’s Windows XP SP 2 Support Center at: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?&pr=windowsxpsp2. Another interesting Microsoft website with tons of information regarding security and your computer is: http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/default.mspx. For that matter once on a Microsoft website page that has a Search box just type in the phrase Windows XP SP 2 Problems and you should get a page or more of links that will provide you with good information. Next scan your computer with a good antivirus program and one or more good spyware programs. Although there are a number of good commercial and free antivirus and spyware programs the ones I use are Norton Anti-virus and both SpyBot and Ad-Aware spyware programs. We have discussed these three programs and others in prior meetings so I won’t cover them in any detail here. Just make sure that you update these programs with their developers’ latest data files before scanning your computer. Now clean up your computer before defragmentation. Get rid of your cookies and your Temporary Internet files. The easiest way to do this is to launch your Internet Explorer (work offline if you wish), click on the Tools menu, click the Internet Options … command and under the General tab in the Internet Options window click on the Delete Cookies…. and the Delete Files…. buttons. If you have The Ultimate Troubleshooter software program I reviewed several months ago you might want to use the Housekeeping Utility that is available in that program to clean your computer of unnecessary files. This might be a good time to uninstall other software programs you no longer use – especially older programs and Utility programs that you have downloaded from the Internet. After you have deleted the files that you do not need don’t forget to empty your Recycle Bin before defragging your computer. We have discussed defragmentation before. Remember that it is best to defrag in Safe mode in order that you can relocate, where necessary, programs that load when you normally boot up your computer but are not required in Safe mode. For those of you who have a dial-up connection Microsoft provided me with a number of CDs containing the XP 2 installation package. I passed out 24 of these CDs at our November meeting. If you did not get one I’ll try and put you in contact with someone who did. If you are one of the ones who obtained this CD please ensure that it gets passed around to others for their use. It is now time for you to install SP 2. After installation if a problem occurs go back to Microsoft’s XP SP 2 Support Center and determine whether that problem (and possible solution) is discussed. Type a brief description of your problem in a Search box on a Microsoft page. If this fails try typing a brief description of the problem in a Google search window. If you are still having problems I understand that Microsoft is providing free technical support to resolve issues brought about through the installation of SP 2. This is without a doubt Microsoft’s best effort to date to make systems using their Windows XP operating system safe from viruses and hackers. The least we can do is to help them do this.
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