Win XP: Is Service Pack 2 necessary..?

[GWSimulations]

It may fix the website mentioned in your post below.

http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/ ... 1112443879

[the_autopilot]

It may fix the website mentioned in your post below.

http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/ ... 1112443879

Then why not post it there.

[Stormtropper]

Please provide proof to back up your claim.

First of all, all those little things (the firewall and stuff) doesn't catch have the nasty stuff trying to get in, and Norton (a real pain-in-the-ass, wish i can switch to MacAffee sometime) does everything that SP2 does and better. Also, after I installed SP2, my computer has been raped by spyware more times than the number of people that Paris Hilton has slept with. And half the nasty stuff that I have been able to get rid of in SP1, I am unable to get rid of in SP2.

[the_autopilot]

First of all, all those little things (the firewall and stuff) doesn't catch have the nasty stuff trying to get in, and Norton (a real pain-in-the-ass, wish i can switch to MacAffee sometime) does everything that SP2 does and better. Also, after I installed SP2, my computer has been raped by spyware more times than the number of people that Paris Hilton has slept with. And half the nasty stuff that I have been able to get rid of in SP1, I am unable to get rid of in SP2.

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).

[asda_price]

Also, after I installed SP2, my computer has been raped by spyware more times than the number of people that Paris Hilton has slept with. And half the nasty stuff that I have been able to get rid of in SP1, I am unable to get rid of in SP2.

No but seriously, there is no need for people not to get Win XP SP2. I think it's great; as the_autopilot said it's not a flipping anti-virus software in itself! It has a firewall and increased security against viruses and such.

I myself use McAfee VirusScan Professional 9, along with the McAfee Firewall, Spamkiller and Privacy Service, and if that's not enough I use AVG Free Edition along with them.  

Adaware, Spybot and Firefox also form part of the barrier.  

Spyware and viruses can't get through this baby.  8)

[Politically Incorrect]

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.

[WebbPA]

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.

The first thing I learned how to do with XP was turn off those annoying warnings.  Go to Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Services and disable Security Center.  All this does is turn off the popup warnings about your antivirus, firewall and windows updates.

Edit: A little more about Security Center here http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/service ... ity_Center

[Stormtropper]

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...

[Fozzer]

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...

Hi Trooper... ...!

[In an Indian accent]...
"My goodness graceous me, Mem Sahib".
"You may remember my comment here regarding getting the Trojan Virus 'DerBiz', and the only way I could get rid of it was to un-install Windows XP, therefore removing all the entries in the Windows Directory, and re-intalling the program again afresh".
"It was a bit of a sod, Mem Sahib, but it was the only thing that worked".
"Fortunatly, I have Windows on it's own partition, so it wasn't too bad".
"I wish you great luck in removing the little buggar, and with the will of Allah, I know you will succeed!.
[Switches off Indian accent].

Paul....from somewhere in Calcutta... ...!

[eno]

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.

[Fozzer]

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.

Don't I just love the thought of one of my Mates offering to post me a SP2 CD.... ...!
...and ALL FOR FREE...Wowzers... ...!

Ta, eno... ...!

Paul. camping* under my letter-box... ...!

*...not the poofta sort... ... ... ...!
LOL...!

[Jared]

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....