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Microsoft Lists SP2 Incompatibilities
thejuggler writes "ZDNET has a story about how the new XP SP2 causes conflicts with over 50 applications and causes problems with others including some of Microsoft's own products. The 'glitch' as they are calling it seems to be that the Windows firewall system is turned on by default and blocks unsolicited connections to your computer. You have to unblock certain ports as your applications require to make the apps work again. They are calling this a glitch, but I thought we wanted everything blocked by default so we would have to choose what was unblocked?" The BBC has a story as well.
This is most likely a problem with your macrovision-enabled DVD playback software, and most likely is unrelated to sp2. if you uninstalled SP2 and then it worked, rather than rolling back (using system restore), perhaps you have a point, but regardless I'd probably just throw your dvd playing software out the window and get something better, if I were you.
No one ever says, 'I can't read that ASCII E-mail you sent me.'
Register article...
p 2_ stop_moaning/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/12/winxp_s
Could you not just disable the built in firewall and use a (reasonably) more intelligent and more intuitice product like Zonealarm instead? You know, something written by people who have a clue what security means?
"The dew has clearly fallen with a particularly sickening thud this morning"
You know what happens when SP2 blocks a connection via the firewall? It let's you know. It also let's you take the option of unblocking the program straight away. I had this problem with X-Wing Alliance and Unreal Tournament 2004. When no servers came up, I thought it was my connection, but a quick-alt tab reveals that Windows has a pop-up that actually informs you that it's blocked the game/application. So, don't be too quick to bash. Turning the firewall on by default is a good idea. I mean, why don't you go bash ZoneAlarm or a similar firewall app? It blocks all access by default, and "learns" as you use your computer more, and that's all the SP2 firewall is trying to do.
For the lazy:click
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
See if you can find your favoirite bug on this list!
Best Buy can have you arrested
RTFA please.
The same applications would all stop working if you installed any firewall, hardware or software, router or ZoneAlarm.
This has nothing to do with QA testing - obviously if you enable a firewall, some apps are going to stop working.
Why on earth is it microsofts QA departments fault that you can't FTP if your FTP port isn't open on your firewall?
If you think that it really is MS's fault after actually reading the article - then yes, you should be shot. Twice. Darwin save us all.
I am government man, come from the government. The government has sent me. -- G.I.R.
I've read that this sort of behavior is associated with video driver updates most frequently.
Did you have Windows Update update your drivers at the same time as it installed the service pack?
I sat with a guy today who had the Start Button Virus on his PC. He had some whacky firewall utility that also controlled which programs could execute and a real live Microsoft DSL router between him and the outside world.
After I overcame my initial nausea we spent a few minutes on the firewall device and determined that its outside port was dead. I offered him a free (as in beer) FreeBSD (free) system to do this job - a nice, easy kill, and it gets me the run of another BSD box with a static IP.
The firewall thing on the PC was a bigger problem - not so good interface, user deeply confused by the idea that some addresses aren't globally routeable, further amazed that some devices can change these RFC1918 addresses to globally routeable numbers, and utterly boggled by the concept of being able to *see* what your computer is doing on the network.
Bottom line? This guy has no business doing anything other than pulling cables and plugging stuff into a network that provides DHCP and he *knows* this is the case.
I predict job growth in the 'digitician' field - the PC guru that comes around is going to become a real live job, instead of a friend or relative you impose upon for help. I, luckily, have avoided 98% of this work by becoming an inscrutable BSD prophet and would have avoided this one as well, were it not for the interior designer roaming around the office with her thong peeping out at regular intervals.
I am very easy to get along with, but I don't have time to waste being nice to people who are being stupid. -Theo
I had this same problem over a year ago. I had an nVidia Geforce 2 card with a TV out, I not have a Geforce 4 and do not experience the problem. I am running SP2 and no problems thus far.
I was able to get around it with DVD Idle Pro.
It makes it work even with the macrovision protection.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
Uh. No. On my stock install of OS X 10.3, any admin user on the system has read-only access to that file unless they authenticate. So they can certainly *look* at the settings, but they can't change them as you imply.
You must have either authenticated that application before you opened it, or have some weird configuration of OS X.
Comment of the year
Parent poster embarasses himself and does not understand that "admin" != "root" on a macintosh.
On OSX, admin is not root. The first user on a default install is admin.
So are *you* a troll or are you clueless?
That's strange. On my machine, I get:
/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sharing.firewall.pl ist /Library/Preferences/com.apple.sharing.firewall.pl ist
totoro:~ jcr$ ls -als
8 -rw-r--r-- 1 root admin 3666 Aug 13 16:33
totoro:~ jcr$
What version of OS X are you using?
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Similar thing happened to me when I updated my Nvidia drivers some time ago. Few days later I found this nice post from slashdot. ""According to 'Nvidia Macrovision DVD-TV rules forced on consumers', Nvidia drivers 41.09 and onwards include 'stringent checks' to comply with Macrovision requirements. That could mean if you have a TV encoder that does not support Macrovision, you may well get an error message depending on what DVD software player you are using, the company has said." So it's not necessarily a SP2 glitch.
""An exception caused by a program executing code in its data stack is not going to cause a blue screen unless the code in question is a driver or part of the kernel. The program will simply crash with the appropriate error being logged.""
And guess where ZoneAlarm 4.5 sticks it's stuff into? You gotta go pretty low-level to intercept packets.
And in case of Gunbound, it's actually the Gunbound's anti-hacking system ('GameGuard') that causes the bluescreen. I think it also goes to poke something WAY low-level in Windows - trying to ensure that the game files are untouched, and that there are no cheating programs in the memory. And SP2 doesn't enjoy being poked...
Problem is - due to these broken applications, people think there is something wrong with the HARDWARE. Developers suck, but AMD and Microsoft are the ones that will be flamed by clueless (l)users.
I'm a developer (open-source), and I use windows. I've had no (and I repeat: no) reason to leave. My windows installs are secure enough for me to not worry about anything. The software installs fine and works well. My multimedia works perfectly, and all my games run natively and with hardware acceleration. My machine runs apache, ssh, mysql, cvs, you name it. Multi-monitor support, hardware-accelerated GUI, everything.
I know you can do all that stuff on other platforms, but that's not the point. I can do it on Windows, so why should I change?
Not all Windows users are lazy or naive... some have found a very useable operating system that lets them do EXACTLY what they want, with no fussing.
And your last point is mooted by SP2 - the only way you can run that program is if you download and run it yourself, which can be done on ANY OPERATING SYSTEM. The auto-installs on IE are now a thing of the past (they're not auto any more, and require lots of clicking to start, with lots of big, red "X"s everywhere.)
I'm not trying to be argumentative, but I keep seeing this "windows users are all stupid, and windows is useless crap" rubbish everywhere, and it's starting to get slightly annoying :)
This is a list of programs that require a port opened in the firewall... thats hardly a bug.
This is like complaining installing Zone Alarm or a Cisco PIX breaks something...
Just open the ports and you're away
Couldn't agree more. BTW, your post has the exact same philosophy as the StopListening tool.
Just a suggestion: your daughter would be a lot less confused if she used Firefox instead of IE. No more banner popups pretending to be Windows error messages, in which the user is tempted to just click "OK" or "Yes".
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