Do your or your company intend to implement Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)?

What I've read about it leads me to believe it is generally a good move to install it. However, I'll wait to see if there are any mjor problems reported before rolling it out.

It is one hell of a download. I can not see many dial up users downloading it.

My brother runs a much larger network than mine (we're at the lower end of SME, his network is at the top of SME). They're main concern is the automatic enabling of XP's firewall. Great on home systems, could cause major management problems on large corporate networks.

 

I have RC2 now and love it. Plan to get the release version as soon as I can manage. My vote was for 6 months but that is for work and it will probably take that long to get things tested over the enterprise and then rolled out. I seem to remember SP1 taking about that long.

 

No I won't get SP2 because it's basically a security upgrade for idiots who have no firewall and use IE. I have a firewall and use Firefox instead. Therefore I have no need for SP2. My Windows runs pretty well as it is and I don't want to make any unnecessary changes.

 

windows xp service pack 2

I have the beta version from1st july, i find it good for security ,but there are some sites that i can not access, they are blocked as high security risk in internet zone and are restricted ,when i try to reset security in internet options
from high to medium it always re sets to high this is vey annoying as the sites are not high security risks .i would like to uninstal it and go back to xp
but am not sure how it would affect my computer
Brenline

 

I'm a little like Shadowhawk....I already have a smooth-running firewall, AV, anti-spy, and religiously do all the pertinent XP and IE security updates....my system runs good, why muck it up? It's not clear (from what I've been able to read) that SP2 will offer any significant improvement over what I've already got. At a minimum, I'll wait 6+months before I even consider installing it (unless Bill G. makes it a requirement to receive all future XP updates...I wouldn't put it past him).

 

Any new driver in SP2? Will it be applicable to WinXP in other languages?

Hi everybody!

Has Microsoft said something about updates beyond security issues, in SP2? E.g., about drivers supporting new motherboards, new chipsets, new CD and DVD rewriters, etc.

Does anybody know whether the SP2 to be released about 10th of August will update other language versions of Windows XP too? I'd like to have it for my wife's Spanish WinXP as soon as possible.

Cheers,

Srecko Vojvodic

 

Note to domain admins - Internet Explorer security settings in SP2 will be group-policy-enabled so we will have an easy route to controlling things that is missing right now.

It may just be me but the heavy hitter apps I run seem to load the system less with SP2 RC2 than they did before. As much as a 50% reduction in the amount of CPU for several of them (20% down to 10-12%) and my sense is the whole thing runs a little smoother when compared to my work PC (similar hardware specs) that has XP1. I'm on XP-pro and have no clue if XP-home will respond in a similar fashion or even if other XP-pro systems will.

As to the Spanish version - having some trouble getting firm information. English and I think German immediately but not sure about the others. Given the large installed base of the Spanish version of XP I'd expect it fairly soon but no hard info that I can locate.

Shadowhawk - I'm having trouble figuring out if you are calling me an idiot or not. it's basically a security upgrade for idiots who have no firewall and use IE. I do use IE so that part fits. I did use a 3rd party firewall but have gone with just the XP-SP2 version now so that may fit.

Yup - on careful reflection I have concluded you probably do include me in the 'idiot' group. I should be crushed.

Well, maybe I'll crush tomorrow.

 

Newt...you seem fairly knowledgable. WRT my earlier comments, why would I want SP2? I'm just a SoHo user, Photoshop Elements is about the most processing intensive thing I do (and even then it's just minor pix corrections).

 

At least you have a sense of humour Newt, AND are not easily offended!

 

chrisw - you may not. But since SP2 seems to have updates to almost all the XP files, it is basically a new OS with major emphasis on security and minor emphasis on performance & stability. Why would you not want it?

Granted, there is always the chance that the thing will mess up a perfectly functional machine so the advice above to wait a few months is probably good for most folks although it does have an uninstall feature - you can't always totally rely on that.

I mentioned in another thread that the RC1 version messed up some things I never could put right and caused me to do a complete clean reinstall of XP but RC2 has been great and problem free for my system. I expect the release version will be pretty much the same for most users.

 

Hi - one quick question about SP2.
I have two XP Home machines.
Computer "A" is completely up to date with all updates.
Computer "B" is so so up to date.

Should I bring computer "B" up to date before getting SP2?

Thanks

mopar