Windows XP Service Pack 2: be afraid........

[Satch]

One of my IT guys was today glooming away saying that Windows XP SP2 will contain so many changes it virtually amounts to a new operating system and may disable a number of my existing applications thanks to a "memory protection" feature.

So his main contibution for the day was to disable all auto update functionality "until we know how bad it is going to be".

Oh good.

 

[andy_k]

there's a lot of info about SP2 on the Eldergeek.com, kere's a link i picked up a few days ago that outlines the "improvements"

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/sp2chngs.mspx

Andy

 

[Sp!ke]

Were in the process of setting up our own SUS server so that we can choose which critical updates are distributed to our users and when to update.

If you're running AD, then its a simple enough job to do.

SP2 does look a bit scary mind

 

[PaulM]

XP SP2 just has a different fail-safe philosophy, in that by default security is enabled everwhere. This will not break existing applications etc, but you may need to reduce the security permissions to enable the applications you need. It's designed to make computing and internet access more secure for most of us, particularly home users who are normally highly prone to having infected machines. If you are looking for a quick fix check for latest viruses, and tool to remove them try Stinger on the NAI site. This is a one-shot for the most recent serious viruses, and is handy to have around. Nothing beats a good firewall interface, and an uptodate AV scanner however.