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The Verdict on WinXP SP2?
A reader writes: "Now that time has passed, people have been giving their opinions as to the effectiveness of Windows SP2. The jury has been good, but mixed." The ITMJ Product Guide is part of OSTG; what's been your, if any, experiences with SP2?
Wow talk about relevant... I was at someone's house last night and they had just downloaded Service Pack 2. They were having problems with Internet Explorer so they hoped SP2 would fix it so they let the computer chew away for 5 minutes, then once it was installed they rebooted.
The computer got 5 seconds in to loading Windows before getting a BSOD (which lasted less than a second) before rebooting again.
And again. And again.
After 5/6 crashes it was obvious SP2 had royally fucked the PC up. Luckily we managed to boot up in Safe Mode and use System Restore to undo the effects of SP2 and now the computer is working normally (in fact, the IE problems seem to have gone!).
Now I am very dubious about installing SP2 at work, I think we'll be forced to upgrade before long but MS clearly still have some bugs to squash.
Sorry, but my karma just ran over your dogma.
My experience?
Since installing it on my brother's computer, my Mum and Dad's c computer. I've found myself having more time to watch TV, then trying to rid their computers of adaware and trying to explain to them why hundreds of screens pop up all the time.
I am not a Windows fan by any lengths, but hey. It's saved me some hassles so I am a happy camper.
But if IIRC, this SP adds a popup killer, and a personal software firewall (and some bugfixes along with side effects).
So I understand the reason why most of the big Swiss companiesI am working with decided to stay on Windows 2000 (with ActiveX and VBScript deactivated).
Trolling using another account since 2005.
Yeah, the default firewall and other security stuff is pretty nice. Doesn't make much of a difference to me or the amount of crap I find on my clients' computers, though. My favorite aspect of SP2 is the new wifi management app. I used to constantly have random 802.11x connectivity problems, as did many other Windows users. I'd just occasionally get dropped and have to repair the connection. Irritating. But... SP2 fixed it! Yay! Anyone else see this behaviour? -Yoweigh
That's not true. It's not the best firewalling solution ut there (I personally prefer using the free version of Sygate Personal Firewall) (honestly, I personally prefer not to run Windows) but you can add some 'exceptions' (i.e. filtering rules), and it's better than nothing for Mr. and Mrs. Clueless.
In addition, it's an application level firewall (AFAIK the internet connection firewall in WinXP was only a level 3 'block any incoming connection' solution).
As I said, neither state-of-the-art, neither junk.
Signatures are for stupids.
I run linux, solaris, and mac os x on my desk.
what's this windows you speak of?
I think the situation is very simple.
SP2 improves security. This is Good.
Some applications rely on insecure functionality. This is Bad.
SP2 breaks some of these applications. If this affects you, you will need to find different applications before you install SP2, or secure your system in a different way.
The upshot is that Real operating systems and applications are not affected by this.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
Well it worked great for me, then I took it off. :)
Of course I'm exaggerating the "works great" part. My GPRS enabled celphone stopped being a modem and became a phone. That means it could no longer work for dialup networking.
This problem means little or nothing to anyone who doesn't own a Sony Eriksson T220. To me it's the difference between internet access or staying offline.
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
I am just continually baffled as to why people don't just use something suited to the job. If you are going to connect to the Internet, use a dedicated firewall. Sure, a full, enterprise level appliance may well be £50k (new Nokia IP2250) but you can get a decent home firewall for a couple of hundred.
It is a simple segregation of duties issue - a sensible defence from the internet is a filtering router, firewall, DMZ if you need it, AV on your mail gateway and PCs.
And then you need to seriously look at Firefox as a replacement for IE, again this will just add some security, as IE just has too many hooks into the OS and so can seriously bu66er your PC.
Of course, this being Slashdot, I would also have to argue that using any Microsoft product is just wastefull and inappropriate:-)
Some examples:
My mother got a new PC with XP and Norton AV. She connected it up to download updates, and got infected within 2 minutes by a virus Norton can see but can't do anything about.
My firm rolled out XP to all laptops (were on 2000) - now the boot time is longer, many functions don't work, hibernate is flaky, I need admin rights for more apps than I used to and the only good thing is that Excel 2003 has some great features. Even Word sucks even more than it did.
Suffice it to say on my home network I have only one PC running windows (currently 22 running other OS's - BSD, Linux, Solaris, Irix, HPUX, AIX etc) and it is purely for games playing and does not have a connection to the outside world. My firewall filters out pretty much everything - very little is needed inbound except SSH.
True, but this is more about asking for Slashdotter's opinions.
In my case, SP2 has been a mixed bag, but in a very strange way. At work, I upgraded our entire fleet using SUS (we're a small company of about 50 machines) after testing with a few testbeds. Outside of explaining to users what the information bar was, it installed like a dream. I was very satisfied to see even basic stuff, like the admin share, closed off via the firewall until you open it.
On the other hand, my home computer has been less than friendly. I built a cutting-edge rig with an Athlon 64 chipset, and I've run into all kinds of strange bluescreens. A lot of them have to do with DEP (data execution prevention). I want to leave it on, but I've had to create so many exceptions I wonder how useful it is. Offhand, two apps I know cause problems are UT2004 and NAV 8 (haven't tried 9 yet). I'm not too thrilled that *programs* now (not just drivers) can bluescreen a current NT OS.
Overall, I'm fairly satisfied with it though, just based on work experiences. The problems at home are addressable -- although I'd hate to be young and foolish, just building my first gaming rig, and wondering what the hell is going on.
Ahh... the first non-hater post. I'll respond here since I'm in the same boat.
Before SP2, I thought that I was going to be able to quit my job and start a Windows reinstallation business because of all the spyware out there. SP2 stops nearly all of it because it disables ActiveX plug-ins by default. Although it does allow the user to install them through the 'information bar', these are the same idiots that were previously clicking 'yes' on the security warning so that they could get to the porn or MP3s that they were seeking. ActiveX spyware will be a thing of the past once this catches on. But I'm sure that they'll start bundling it with legitimate programs at this point.
Maybe I should open that business after all...
Oh... And the firewall is a moot point since no Microsoft security should be trusted. Just go get Sygate Personal Firewall and disable the stock crap. Easy as pie.
Life is the leading cause of death in America.
I always tidy up first - Ad-aware especially - especially make sure AV and firewall software is on the latest version, so that they and SP2 can coexist happily.
A good summary can be found here.
Whatever about security flaws and errors introduced in SP2, it accommplpished one thing very well. It makes users more security conscious
The XP SP2 security center is the greatest thing to come out of Redmond since the start button. it forces users, through alerts to be aware of the vunerabilities of their own system. if they are without Antivirus, Firewall or automatic update, it tells them, and keeps telling them, until they fix the problem. This alone has saved me countless hours of explaining why security is important to people who just don't give a shit. For some bizarre reason, lecture after lecture from a techie on security will result in a user who still installs spyware ridden file sharers and smileys, browses on IE and won't install a simple antivirus, and who thinks your being paranoid. And yet a simple taskbar bubble proclaiming 'Your computer may be at risk' grabs and holds their attendion, to the extent that they actually do secure their PC(In as much as a windows PC can be secured).
Security Center Rocks!
Time for a Gnome Version methinks.
P.S.
BITS is also a lifesaver! Now at least when little annie stops downloading MP3's for 5 minutes, updates will actually be downloaded.
P.P.S.
Remember to set the install time for the updates when you fix computers for friends and family. I find 0600 is good. Everyone is in bed, so no panic results when the installer dialog pops up. Of course the computer must be on 24/7 , but just tell them that turning it on and off too much will break it.
May the Maths Be with you!
Turning it off is not that easy, at least for me. I logged in as admin ("Owner") and turned off the firewall. Then I logged off and logged back in as a normal user (myself), and the firewall was turned back on! And since I didn't have admin privileges, I couldn't turn it off. So I logged off and back in as Owner, and it was off.
Finally, some combination of turning ot off, rebooting, logging in, turning off, etc, finally got my user account to turn the thing off (I use ZoneAlarm Pro). However, when my wife logs in on her user account, the firewall is on again, and she can't turn it off.
Otherwise I haven't had any problems with SP2. I disabled the security center process too while trying to figure this mess out.