Hi Lads, Lasses, and other various species.... ...!

Having finally managed to install Win XP on my second hard drive, (in addition to my original Win '98SE... 8)...)*,
I am left wondering if I really should download and install Service Pack 2 as well**.

What are the benefits of SP2, (if any), bearing in mind that I seem to be getting much more crap spam, etc, on Win XP than ever I did in Win '98... ...!

Thanks all... ...!

Paul.... 8)...!

* I select the required operating system in the Bios boot-up options... ...!

** Via 56k Dial-Up... ... ...!

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Hi Craig...!

So....
If I were to row over to Seattle to collect the disk from Uncle Bill would there be any benefits in installing it...?

...and if so, what are they...?

Paul The Confused.... ... ...!

Hi Woody...!

I hear, on the grape-vine, that SP2 includes some add-on security programs to prevent arsoles toe-rags from infecting our computer with pop-ups, spy-ware, viruses, etc....
...or am I being too optimistic... ...!

LOL...!

Paul.... ...!

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....Victoria...?
...Freddy Mercury...?

LOL...!

Paul... ...!

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Blimey...!
...just read through that lot and wondering why I bothered installed XP to replace my Windows '98SE, which didn't have all those problems in the first place... ...!
LOL...!

Paul...Dual Boot... 8)...!

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Wrong, protection bit works seperately from your anti-virus software. Anti-virus, prevents and removes viruses from your comp.

Protection bit is hardware support (NX disable bit on AMD and intel processors). It litterally prevents certain types of malicious program code from being run on the processor.

Trust me, SP2 is worth the download. It also comes with some great optimizations and A LOT of security fixes. I don't know where some of these people are getting their info, but SP2 is a must have for XP.

BTW, Microsoft will ship you a free versian of SP2 CD. Go here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/sp2/cdorder/en_us/default.m...

Don't bother with it, SP2 is a security nightmare

I personally think it caused more problems than it fixed

I still don't want it downloading any more crap onto my pc. So I've turned automatic updates off. Though for some reason XP feels the need to tell me that everytime I boot up the system.

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Then why not post it there.

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Those little things are not supposed to catch everything. Their meant for the really average user who does not have a firewall. Thats why i say don't base your protection on SP2. As for spyware, SP2 no protection against; thats just casue you have crappy anti-syware software. SP2 contains security fixes that prevent viruses and trojans from sneaking into your computer via holes in MS's netowrking code. SP2 has no effect on spyware because spyware operates differently. MS will eventually provide anti-spyware, but saying SP2 is bad because of spyware is just BS.


As for removing nasty things, what nasty things are you refering to. Sp2 does not mess with read/write (and there fore delete) access to any ligit application (including your anti-avirus).

I have used SP2 since it was beta, and all I can say is that it has boosted my computers performance 10 fold.
As the others already mentioned is that not only SP2 has fixed major backdoor security problems but it also contains all the necessary updates/hotfixes so it is essential for those who just installed XP (Fozzer) its that or going through the hassle of downloading them for days to get you system up to par. I to disabled Auto update becasue I hate programs all trying to update as soon as I log on and I prefer to manually pick which updates I need. In the past I had auto update on and was having stuff downloaded that I don't need, such as networking stuff  and others that don't pertain to my computer setup or usage.

Woody there is a way to disable those pop-up notifications that you see everytime you boot up.
Go to:
Control panel-Security Center, off to the left you'll see a box labeled "Resources" at the bottom of that list you'll see " Change the way Security Center notifies me", there you can disable any reminders.

Your free to do what you want but my opinion is to get SP2 and install it via the instructions.

PS- I've mentioned it before and will again the #1 problem people have installing SP2 is the fact that spyware is already residing in thier computer, this MUST be removed before installing SP2!!! Plently of info on this can be found at the M$ site, and make certain to scan your system with multiple scanners never rely on just one.

If its not suppose to catch those things, then why would you even have it? Its likte a airplane that was not designed to fly...

And 'the nasty stuff' includes, but is not limited to, spyware...

My computer is currently Virus and Trojan free (thank you Norton ), but I had a few things that got through a year back...and M$'s tech support didn't help either...

'[Indian accent]Hello?[/Indian accent]'

'Yes, I'm having alittle trouble with my OS'

-something that I didn't understand-

'Excuse me?'

-again, replys in a heavy indian accent that I couldn't understand-

'I'm having difficulty understanding what your saying'

'[Indian accent]Sir, can you speak more with an Indian accent, so I can understand you better?[/Indian accent]'

'WHAT IN THE HELL?'

'[Indian accent]Please wait while I redirect your call to someone with an even more heavy accent[/Indian accent]'

But anyway.....

The only nasty I have on my computer right now is a spyware called 'randreco.exe'...I had alittle success with it while I was back in SP1...I don't know wether its cuz I did something different back then, or SP2 is in a relationship with it....

...but the little bastard just won't get off...and nothing microsoft is helping...

Mr Fozzer ......... if you want SP2 on disc I have several free copies from magazines. I can post one quicker than you can say lickerty split. Saves any downloading and much of the installation hassle.

hmm...I personally have sp2 installed on all of the pc's in my house but one....they all seems to work fine..

Only one that it isn't installed on is my new laptop, seems there is a bug in the system that will not let me put sp2 on without great difficulty, manufacturer is working on a fix, so until then I'm not gonna worry about it...

Kind of frustrating when you get a "new" computer and you go to do windows updates and after sp2 restarts the pc it is stuck in an infinite loop rebooting windows...lol, oh well....