Win XP SP2 Halts 15% of Systems, Survey Says

I told you not to install SP 2: I told you.......but you didn't believe me!!!!!!

Mike Dallos

I installed sp2 on 2 of my machines running XP home edition and AMD processors and to date have not had a problem. Also, I have not had an internet attack since installation.

SP 2 has toasted (back to OS reinstall) two of the six XP boxes I'm responsible for. Thank my idiot lackey for that, eh? "Do not, under any circumstances, install SP2 until we hear what the news is saying." My idiot lackey read one, "All is well." Report and installed it across the board, then looked surprised when he got written up. Idiot SP, idiot lackey. Bad, bad combination.

Yeah, we all need more security !

I have installed it on 5 of my home computers, 2 Pro, 3 Home edition. No problems at all. Installed on a few machines at work. All good to go. 2 thumbs up!

What? Has this been verified? What were the sysadmins doing when the RCs were out?

BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH. I didn't Listen

"SP 2 has toasted (back to OS reinstall) two of the six XP boxes I'm responsible for. Thank my idiot lackey for that, eh? "Do not, under any circumstances, install SP2 until we hear what the news is saying." My idiot lackey read one, "All is well." Report and installed it across the board, then looked surprised when he got written up. Idiot SP, idiot lackey. Bad, bad combination."

Most likly due to your people skills carrying over to your PC's. Opinions coming from people denigrating others must be taken with a large grain of salt.

Move up in life... Use Linux or Mac OS X.

-Ram

This is why I use a Mac

I've intalled SP2 and didn't notice any problem. My decision for going to SP2 was because of the wireless problem. You've to disable windows to configure you wireless otherwise your connection cuts every 3 min. I opted for complete reinstallation of Windows XP Home because I wanted to get rid of the backup fiie from previous patches. As the result my computer is actually booting faster than SP1a

After the installation (eventhough very long), none of my programs have a conflict with SP2. Here's a small list: Office XP Pro, Dreamweaver MX 2004, Photoshop CS, Norton Antivirus 2004, ZoneAlarm Pro, Roxio Easy CD & DVD Creator 6, WS_FTP Pro, Opera 7.54, Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Professional, SecureCRT 4.1.7, Raven Shield.
I also turn off the windows firewall for ZoneAlarm Pro because I have the feeling that most of the incompatibility comes from windows firewall.

Mac OS X and win2k for me

I run SP2 on my computer (XP Pro Intel 2500GHZ) my computer has been slower.hmmmm look! Antivirus, firewall,updating, pop killer, spyware,ZoneAlarm and so one. you need all of them to visit a page.ohhhhhh Gud

To the person who fried the computer. I don't know what's your configuration but if your computer is less then 1.5GHz with 256MRAM then I won't recommend even running Windows XP but go Windows 2000 Pro.

SP2 installed as smooth as glass :)

I think the difference is between a clean-install and an upgrade. I would definitely wait if your only option is to upgrade.

How can I install the service pack on my C64?

I am working on a Microsoft-free company. We use Debian GNU/Linux on desktops and servers.

No virus, no worms, no blue screens of death.

If you can't move your desktops to Linux, you should -- at least -- try to move away from Microsoft, as much as you can. Use Free/Open Source Software on Windows!

- Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer
- Mozilla Thunderbird instead of Outlook Express
- OpenOffice.org instead of MS Office

At least you will put some layers of secure software above the insecure operating system.

I haven't installed it and I'm not sure I will...not soon anyway. There are way too many problems that are both caused by SP2 and merely patched by SP2. WinXP is starting more and more to look like a vaudeville pair of pants with patches all over and an act parodying the life of a hobo drifter. Instead, i'm shopping around for viable alternatives.

As for these people who say "I installed it and haven't had any intrusions into my PC!": just wait. You've installed it all too recently to be able to make any sort of valuable judgment on the matter.

I installed SP2 on my pc with professional and a friends with home edition without any problems. It's only been one day but I haven't had any problems.

Run linux.

I'd wait a month or so, then install it.

t**** its been my experience windows xp runs better on the lower end machines then 2k
definatly faster on the cel 500 with 256 meg of ram that i have as a spare box
as long as you have 400+ mhz and 256 meg of ram win xp is pretty good

Had some work-around-able TCP/IP networking problems on an 800 Mhz PIII, w/512K SDRAM. Updated from the beta of SP2. Had to remove Sygate Firewall.

In all fairness, I'd have to say I've had much worse problems with a couple of MacOS X and Redhat upgrades- especially Fedora Core 2.

would xp sp2 break my old amiga?

All a person needs to do for security is the following:

-a router
-use Firefox Browser
-Use Thunderbird Email Client
-use Open Office
-WAIT UNTIL A SERVICE PACK IS 2 to 4 MONTHS OLD BEFORE INSTALLING IT.
-Don't use Microsoft Products when it comes to internet based applications.

Hopefully Apple will get wise and port OS X over to Intel/ AMD cpu based machines. They would make a alot of money.

( and I don't own a Mac )

Installed SP2 last night via auto update. No problems detected thus far. Running XP Home Edition. Overall system response seems to be running faster.

SP2 is good but I dont know sometimes it has a tendency to screw up some flash plugins.
I remember loading the Beta version (was a big risk) but then it worked fine..sometimes it used to screw up the IE explorer when it used to download images. till date i have to right click on ugly red X marks and say show pics. I couldnt download flash player from macromedia for sometime and then all of a sudden things got fine..!
Well..all those people who like to sit outside of the game of windows and like to yap..peice of advise..SHUT THE HELL UP..!

SP2 is good but I dont know sometimes it has a tendency to screw up some flash plugins.
I remember loading the Beta version (was a big risk) but then it worked fine..sometimes it used to screw up the IE explorer when it used to download images. till date i have to right click on ugly red X marks and say show pics. I couldnt download flash player from macromedia for sometime and then all of a sudden things got fine..!
Well..all those people who like to sit outside of the game of windows and like to yap..peice of advise..SHUT THE HELL UP..!

SP2 is good but I dont know sometimes it has a tendency to screw up some flash plugins.
I remember loading the Beta version (was a big risk) but then it worked fine..sometimes it used to screw up the IE explorer when it used to download images. till date i have to right click on ugly red X marks and say show pics. I couldnt download flash player from macromedia for sometime and then all of a sudden things got fine..!
Well..all those people who like to sit outside of the game of windows and like to yap..peice of advise..SHUT THE **** UP..!

Dude - get a Mac

installed SP2 on 10 XP Pro boxes so far with no serious problems. There are some changes in the handling of wireless connections which may take you a few minutes to figure out. Overall, the new wireless functionality is an improvement, but it may break whatever tweaks and workarounds you had come up with to get things working wirelessly in SP1.

Sorry OS X and Linux....its software that decides how good a system is, not OS. Why own a machine, if you can run your favorite games or software?

It would be nice if people would add constructive comments regarding XP2, not 'install linux', 'use a mac'. Sorry but most of us don't have the leisure to do that at our workplaces and have to deal with it or find a new job, where most likely the next company you go to work for also has Windows PCs that need to be supported.

Sorry OS X and Linux....its software that decides how good a system is, not OS. Why own a machine, if you can't run your favorite games or software?

Installed SP2 on 25 XP Pro machines without problems of any kind (all machines AMD 2800+ with 1gig RAM). Install time was about 20 minutes (using network updater from MSDN site). Since we use our own firewalls, we have disabled Windows Firewall so can't speak about it--however we have experienced no problems with any application so far (after one week's evaluation).

If you are really worried about security, reliability, networkability and speed, try OpenBSD. It really does work, and far exceeds Linux in all of these categories. And yes, I do use Windows as well, but only behind OpenBSD firewalls with all ports (in and out) closed by default. As for XP, I would still recommend Win2K over XP for anything other than gaming or home use.

Metafictitious, you needed to clear your cache. nothing to do with sp2.

I installed SP2 yesterday, and have had nothing but trouble since. My computer won't boot, my wife left me, my dog bit me and my dishwasher overflowed. I tried to make a toasted cheese sandwich and burned it. My stock portfolio is down 30%. I can't remember my phone number. I'm having a weird pain in my left leg.

Hopefully reinstalling Windows will help.

I specificaly had windows update turned off on all my XP machines before I left on vacation, but for somereason Windows decided to overide my decision and install sp2 anyways.

2 out of 3 machines installed without a hitch (one home, one pro), but one other (home) decided to make a fuss and now is unstable as I'll get out. I am going to have to reload now, and it seriously ticks me off.

When I came home from vacation, I initaly thought my network had been overcome by a virus. But no, it was just more of microsoft's "improvements".

Question- We are new to this game and have a Hp 2800+Amd Athlon, 512 ram 80gb hddrive, at present empty except for windows xp home& the bundled software it came with. Protected by Norton Anti Virus and firewall, do we even need, the new update?

I probably won't be able to use the update on my xp version. Oh well. Why don't they just install a super virus scanner on the software and update that. It would probably be cheaper for microsoft. All they have to do is buy another company. I prefer it to the firewall.

I probably won't be able to use the update on my xp version. Oh well. Why don't they just install a super virus scanner on the software and update that. It would probably be cheaper for microsoft. All they have to do is buy another company. I prefer it to the firewall.

Since 8/13 - 14 computers, 2 clients and own company, AMD and Intel, wired and wireless, workgroup and domain-based, wide variety of software, 2 with AOL, all Win XP Pro. No problems. Makes me wonder what some of the other poster were, or weren't, doing with their computers.

Installed SP2 on 100 XP Pro computer toasted 27 of them.

Installed SP2 on 100 XP Pro computer toasted 27 of them.

Installed SP2 on 7 machines in 7 different network environments. Each machine had between 2 and 8 non-MS office/business applications. No problems to report yet.

Since 8/13 - 21 computers, 2 clients and own company, AMD and Intel, wired and wireless, workgroup and domain-based, wide variety of software, 2 with AOL, all Win XP Pro. No problems. Makes me wonder what some of the other posters may have, or may not have, been doing with their computers.

Windows XP SP2 is a MUST for everyone, I have installed it on several Dell, Compaq, and IBM laptops / PCs without any problems all systems are running very well for 2 weeks now. Not sure where all these stories about problems with SP2 are coming from, it is the first SP ever that actually changes somethings visually and added new features. You have a firewall on every system now and wireless support just got much better.

I have installed SP2 on five machines - a Celeron 400, an Athlon 550 laptop, an Athlon 800, an Athlon 1700, and a Pentium 4 2.6. All are working flawlessly. I have never been this pleased with a Microsoft product before. A few new things to learn, but the learning curve was quick. All my machines were running XP Pro SP1 -- I wonder if my experience would have been worse on XP Home. Also, I ran the whole "network administrators" package - the 270 MB file.

i installed it on an old ibm laptop, no problems, didn't take too long either

I have installed SP2 on five machines - a Celeron 400, an Athlon 550 laptop, an Athlon 800, an Athlon 1700, and a Pentium 4 2.6. All are working flawlessly. I have never been this pleased with a Microsoft product before. A few new things to learn, but the learning curve was quick. All my machines were running XP Pro SP1 -- I wonder if my experience would have been worse on XP Home. Also, I ran the whole "network administrators" package - the 270 MB file.

I have installed SP2 on five machines - a Celeron 400, an Athlon 550 laptop, an Athlon 800, an Athlon 1700, and a Pentium 4 2.6. All are working flawlessly. I have never been this pleased with a Microsoft product before. A few new things to learn, but the learning curve was quick. All my machines were running XP Pro SP1 -- I wonder if my experience would have been worse on XP Home. Also, I ran the whole "network administrators" package - the 270 MB file.

I have installed SP2 on five machines - a Celeron 400, an Athlon 550 laptop, an Athlon 800, an Athlon 1700, and a Pentium 4 2.6. All are working flawlessly. I have never been this pleased with a Microsoft product before. A few new things to learn, but the learning curve was quick. All my machines were running XP Pro SP1 -- I wonder if my experience would have been worse on XP Home. Also, I ran the whole "network administrators" package - the 270 MB file.

i love these purported 'statistics' from what appears to be a voluntary passive survey. hope it doesn't strike anyone as a surprise that people with problems are more likely to take the survey.

i imagine that a 'survey' of people calling my isps technical support would indicate that 99% of users have technical problems. less 1% for error and those who ring up to let the helpdesk know that everything is fine.

I wonder if service pack 2 will mess with XP if you have a illeagle copy. In other words will the old cracks work.

of course this is not for me im 100% lagit, i'm asking for a friend

nudg nudg wink wink

SP2 install on 866 P3 with 512MB RAM has gone well after about one week. No slowdowns, no broken software. Curious, why not Ghost the drive ahead of the install. I did, but then I like security blankets. All in all running better than Win2K ever did. Do not like nag balloon telling user computer may be unsafe. Am using Zonealarm plus a router with firewall, but not good enough for MS I guess.

SP2 install on 866 P3 with 512MB RAM has gone well after about one week. No slowdowns, no broken software. Curious, why not Ghost the drive ahead of the install. I did, but then I like security blankets. All in all running better than Win2K ever did. Do not like nag balloon telling user computer may be unsafe. Am using Zonealarm plus a router with firewall, but not good enough for MS I guess.

I have Windows XP Pro SP 1 with Norton Antivirus 2003, Zone Alarm firewall, Ad aware 6.0, and Google toolbar installed.
The cost: around $10 from amazon.com for the antivirus software ( CD only). Zone Alarm, Ad aware, and Google toolbar come for free.
The benefits: Being a happy PC user

Why should I need to update SP 2?

Anyone do backups first for a speedy recovery?

Yes. Microsoft asks you to back up the whole system before the update.

I installed sp2 on a bloated xp sp1 system with lots of programs and games installed just to test and it installed and works fine, gotta love the built in popup blocker. I dont like the idea that u cant turn off the security alert icon in the taskbar or at least i havent found out how yet.. This update might be best installed on a clean xp system to minimize software conflicts with other programs there will surely be patches for this big patch but its looking good so far.

Install once on notebook with Winxp Pro without problem. However, wireless connection seems to fail to connect.

Install on desktop PC with Winxp Pro at home and BLUE SCREEN of death. Won't boot to Safe Mode. Had to delete partition and re-install but Winxp Pro SP2 fails to detect graphic card, monitor type, sound card, lan card. Delete partition again and re-install WinXP Pro with SP2 and re-install m/b chipset utility immediately after (before reboot). Everything Aok now.

im running sp4 -- it lets you send messages into the past!

Installed SP2 on both home machines.
1.3 Althlon XP 512 DDR
1gig Pentium 3 256 PC-133
Both XP Home.
No problems and both machines run "GREAT"
Although it was mostly a security update it seems to be a better "Windows"
Graphics look and play great.
Good performance and added security.
"Hats off to Microsoft"!

Installed SP2 on both home machines.
1.3 Althlon XP 512 DDR
1gig Pentium 3 256 PC-133
Both XP Home.
No problems and both machines run "GREAT"
Although it was mostly a security update it seems to be a better "Windows"
Graphics look and play great.
Good performance and added security.
"Hats off to Microsoft"!

Have been running since Beta-1. Have installed SP2 final. Had no problems till date. Only problem is with firewall which should bve turned off. use a decent commercial firewall instead.

To all the people who installed SP2 and had no problems. THUMBS UP! To all the people who installed SP2 and had problems. THUMBS DOWN! If you had problems after you installed SP2, then there was something else wrong with your PC in the first place.

I switched to Mac OS X and never looked back. It has a better, newer version of MSFT OFFICE, and all its apps are higher quality, plus in a pinch I can run Windows programs through VPC.

SP2 upgrade installed fine. No net connect at first but that was due to a conflict between my commercial firewall and XP firewall. I turned off XP firewall and all is fine. Some XP firewall improvements but it still does not block outgoing traffic. MS, what are you thinking? And for all you Windows doomsdayers, how secure would Open Source software be if they were targeted by virus and worm writers? Build an OS that can handle a zillion different computers as well as software packages and make it secure and I'll buy yours.

SP2 upgrade installed fine. No net connect at first but that was due to a conflict between my commercial firewall and XP firewall. I turned off XP firewall and all is fine. Some XP firewall improvements but it still does not block outgoing traffic. MS, what are you thinking? And for all you Windows doomsdayers, how secure would Open Source software be if they were targeted by virus and worm writers? Build an OS that can handle a zillion different computers as well as software packages and make it secure and I'll buy yours.

"If you had problems after you installed SP2, then there was something else wrong with your PC in the first place."
UH HUH;]
Haven't run realtime virus scanning, spyware stoppers or software firewall (Coyote Linux Gateway) on any of my 10 home computers for 3 years and almost never have any problems. 3 2K, 3 XP, 3 Linux machines and a Mac. If I do it's a few cookies. Also don't use microsoft browsers or mail clients. a little education and caution is all it takes which being in this business I do realize that even that is beyond the average user's grasp, usually through no fault of their own.
>>>--Tiribulus->

Hey if your system does not work then it won't be a security threat...

I backed up my PC prior to doing the SP2 install, just in case. But, everything is working fine.

Yes, it takes longer to boot, it's because Microsoft added more features to slow it down some. Yes, they will have to patch it, because there's more features that millions of hackers are trying to break. Yes, people say it sucks, because it's Microsoft and Linux/Mac lovers are going to jump at every chance to degrade Microsoft (not saying that Linux sucks).

Cleanup/fix any PC problems before upgrading or, yes, you will most likely have tons of problems. Why would you try to put a critical update on an oudated or poorly functioning PC to begin with? Fix your other problems before installing. Common sense, people.

A question for all. I am one of those folks that does not have a broadband connection (which I would dearly love to have). I do have access to a broadband connection with my laptop, but I would not be able to download the more specific XP Home update for my home PC. The 272 download is supposed to be able to work for all XP versions and I see from some of the responses that some folks have installed using the large download. Are the components that are contained in the smaller machine-specific download the same as in the large download or have changes been applied since initial release that would make the downloads different? Hopefully this question makes sense.

Just for fun i put SP2 to the ultimate test. I built a P2 366 with 512 mb ram and did a fresh install of XP pro then updated to SP2. so far been smooth sailing. Yea i know there are "limitations" but even this underpowered machine is runing it no problem. I did turn off the windows firewall and replaced it with Sygate. i know have it on 3 machines and all ive notced is slightly longer boot uptime and on my Audio machine ASIO is working better then ever.

Image your drive. Then install it. If you get problems just restore back to the image.

I think Microsoft should have just released a new version of windows if it was going to have this many problems with a service pack. They could have called it Windows FX (FX standing for Fixed!)

Well it seems that I can't even install SP2 though auto update says "Downloading updates..." so for now i'm just waiting to see how everyone elses experiences are. If I really need to get SP2 I'll wait till october when it comes out on CD

Well it seems that I can't even install SP2 though auto update says "Downloading updates..." so for now i'm just waiting to see how everyone elses experiences are. If I really need to get SP2 I'll wait till october when it comes out on CD

I thought this sight was to be used to help others with their problems, if any.I am so tired of MS crybabies. Why would any dumb jerk with a perfectly running Pc download an upgrade just because MS says so. Now there is a patch needed for SP2.........Will you so called experts ever learn? I guess not

"Don't use Microsoft Products when it comes to internet based applications." i found that ms software are the best when dealing with both admin and limited user accounts. they always work. its is because people continuously use no firewall and run in administrative mode for their software that has caused 90% of the internet worms, viruses, and trojan problems out there. the only problem software i have dealt with is non-ms software because is doesnt install correctly for multiple accounts, or the user gets "somedamn.ini write failure" when in limited privledges account mode.

I also downloaded the whole "network administrators" package - the 270 MB file. Installed perfectly on my 933Mhz, 512MB, P3 machine. Zonealarm Pro, Norton SystemWorks 2004, Citrix, old Office 97, Easy CD Creator, all work fine.

Response for John Favero, SP2 won't work for ilegal copies, it either won't install or will isntall and shut your system up so you can't use it. I forget which it does.

Since a few days ago when windows update was updated xp has been doing updates automatically anyway, never asking, so I tried SP2. It wanted to block some software, like trillian, easily fixed. But funny enough it won't allow blocking of microsoft software, I was hoping (ok, dreaming) to shut down a lot oftheir stupid stuff. None of the changes have helped at all, still testing stuff though.

And for those who have a brain out there, remember theres no way to tell whos a valid poster. MS has in the past sent out false editorials and such. Not saying they are now, but don't believe all you hear.

Another Repsonse For John Favero COUGH:keygen:COUGH

Repsonse To David: WILL Work On Pirated Copies Just Not Known Fake Serial Numbers

Had to reformat my whole system after SP2. Its trash. Way to go Bill! Can I call you for the incurred costs? Funny how they can put out a SP that doesnt work with some of the most common software out there. My advice? Don't even attempt it for a LONG time.

SP2 installed in April. I got it from some webpage that was releasing it early...either way, the install went fine and the OS worked fine afterwords except for some programs were not working(those are listed on MS website: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=884130 ). I found the inconvinience created by SP 2 to be to much. SO I un-installed it and re-installed the applications that needed fixing after SP2 install and have not instaled SP2 since.

I am probably going to go Linux soon. I have 5 machines all runnining Windows 2K or XP. My main box will soon be Linux: most likely knoppix as it is the only linux I have found that doesn't have problems with the gui (XWindows) crashing a few times per week...maybe it's my video hardware who klnows but knoppix runs fine for me.

John

I love my Mac! :-)

Installed it on a intel system and it killed it. Had to do a totally fresh install.

everything on my computer was fine after installing sp2 so far

Our computers are meticulously maintained, thoroughly protected, and used extensively with a large number of very unique, non MS programs. We have not experienced any problems with SP2 on any of our 40-50some workstations.

On August 16th, I downloaded Also, and ran the whole "network administrators" package - the 270 MB file on A Dell Demension 4500S running XP Home with SP1 installed. I imaged the Hard drive partitions prior to running the SP2 install so I could restore just in case SP2 cauused a problem. The installation went smooth and everything to date is working fine. I disabled the XP firewall because my DSL modem has a built in hardware firewall that I prefer over a software firewall. The Dell is networked, peer to peer wireless with my 400MHZ Celeron machine, running Win2K Professional. All networking functions performed as prior to the SP2 install. No tweaking of XP was necessary after SP2 installation. I wouldn't have attempted installation without a full imaged backup, just in case I was one of the 15% that has had problems.

For some reason I now have to turn off both firewalls (the new SP2 one, as well as the one I already had) in order to use the internet, and I keep getting asked for ieexplorer and nsid.exe to have permission to access the network, despite clicking the "don't bother me again" tab.

the idiot percentile is huge on this blog ... lowest iq scores go to linux and macintrash posters

the idiot percentile is huge on this blog ... lowest iq scores go to linux and macintrash posters

I've installed it on over 1000 computers and only had one failed installation.

And that was due to lack of hard disk space.

Well I won't deny the fact that some have had problems but I haven't. I installed the network SP2 a week ago with 0 problems on my XP Pro machine. Windows update downloaded SP2 on my wifes machine yesterday morning even though we had is set to just notify us when it was available. It did ask for permission to install though. No problems there either. We are both able to use all the programs we did before including Zone Alarm 5.1 and Nortons AV 2003.

I have also installed the network SP2 on 3 other machines running XP Pro with no obvious ill effects. Just be sure to turn off AV scanners and firewalls during the install.

Well I won't deny the fact that some have had problems but I haven't. I installed the network SP2 a week ago with 0 problems on my XP Pro machine. Windows update downloaded SP2 on my wifes machine yesterday morning even though we had is set to just notify us when it was available. It did ask for permission to install though. No problems there either. We are both able to use all the programs we did before including Zone Alarm 5.1 and Nortons AV 2003.

I have also installed the network SP2 on 3 other machines running XP Pro with no obvious ill effects. Just be sure to turn off AV scanners and firewalls during the install.

And ease up on the PC/Mac bashing. That conversation always lead to the same place- nowhere.

SP2 trashed my system worse than any virus I've ever encountered in the wild.

As a test I installed SP2 on an older HP Vaio Intel PIII 650 desktop system with 512 MB of SDRAM. I formatted the HDD first for NTFS, installed XP, then SP2, then remaining critical updates. Then I installed MS Office 2K, turned off the firewall and installed ZoneAlarm, then Norton System Works 2003 without Go Back or Clean Sweep. SP@ recognizes ZA 5.1 as the new firewall. It does not see AVG antivirus version 6.0 though.

So far all is well. I like the new wireless network features. This is a definite improvement over SP1.

"the idiot percentile is huge on this blog ... lowest iq scores go to linux and macintrash posters..." posted by 'weedy liver'

yeah, I remember MY first beer...

Just a suggestion - get a life, sonny

I used the beta SP2 for approx a month with no obvious problems. Full SP2 installed about 2 weeks ago with no problems. I am running Pro on Athlon 2800 with 512 ram.

I think the underlying question you need to ask yourself before installing SP2 (or any piece of complex software) is "how far from the norm have I taken my machine?" If you've created all sorts of little work-arounds and/or 'customized' you system with all the little things you like, you've strayed pretty far from the norm and you should not expect SP2 to play well. There is no way that MS can test every combination of little patch you may have come up with. Rule of thumb: The more clever the user, the more trouble to expect with SP2.

Not trying to defend MS, but just being realistic. Before installing ANY software, I duplicate my entire harddrive and put it aside. This way, after I figure out which hacks I needed to modify to make the new thing work, I can take out the dup, make the hack-mods, and reinstall the new SW cleanly.

Pain? A little. Educational? You bet.

"the idiot percentile is huge on this blog ... lowest iq scores go to linux and macintrash posters"

Yes, and the Mac and Linux users are usually liberal democrats that drive Volvo's and Volkswagens. Amazing they arent more "tolerant" of other OS's !!!

I am working on a Microsoft-free company. We use Debian GNU/Linux on desktops and servers.

No virus, no worms, no blue screens of death.

I work for Microsoft.
We are currently developing viruii and worms for Linux, and are releasing them on the internet.
Welcome to our world.

>;-)

I am an IT professional and my personal score for 4 XP Pro systems is 2 worked and 2 have had serious issues bad enough that the systems had to be removed from the netwrok and restored to a pre-SP2 state. I have not tried reloading SP2 on either system it trashed. Both systems are Dell Optiplex systems well within XP Pro specs with plenty of room and speed. As of right now I am in a holding pattern. Until I know I can expect something better than a 15% failure rate I will not be loading SP2. We have not had any security issues with SP2 Service Pack 1a running a 3rd party Firewall and Virus/Spyware checkers.

I installed SP2 on my home system and work system, both running XP Pro. All went fine, it's working great.

However, my brother and my dad both installed it, and both of their modems quit working. Even after they uninstalled SP2, their modems still don't work. Now I have to try to fix it for them.

Other than that, I haven't seen any problems on my machines, seems to work great.

Have OS X amd LOVE IT!!!!

Reply to Yopper who wrote "I love my Mac".

How boring is that. Look at all this fun you are missing out on (:<)). Remember one thing. If Mac owned 93 percent of the computing population, and every adolescent virus and worm writer was targeting you, the you would probably be saying "I love my Windows PC".

"Yes, and the Mac and Linux users are usually liberal democrats that drive Volvo's and Volkswagens. Amazing they arent more "tolerant" of other OS's !!!"

YEAH !!! THEY go around repeating stereotype's and making sweeping generalization's about other group's !!! And they use apostrophe's improperly too !!! We're SO much smarter !!!

(Software Update just offered me SP2, but I think I'll use the administrator's installer instead. I've only heard from one of my fellow LAN admins who had problems with SP2, but we're going VERY slowly while we test how SP2 interacts with our domain policies. Thus far we've already had to set a policy to turn off the firewall because by default it disables remote administration.)

Rebuilt system and still had problems...foudn this fix for windows update if you get an error code: 0x800A0046...

open a command prompt and typed in the following:
1. sc sdset wuausrv D:(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;SY)(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;BA)(A;;CCLCSWLOCRRC;;;AU)(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;PU)
2. sc sdset bits D:(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;SY)(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;BA)(A;;CCLCSWLOCRRC;;;AU)(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;PU)

Why cant everyone just love each other?

Surely Mac owners can learn to fit in to the rest of the population like I have learned to when I came out. I love my Mac, but I love Windows as well. Be nice folks :)

Why cant everyone just love each other.

I have a Mac, and I just wish everyone could get along. People are so judgemental and I love Windows as well as my Mac. Who cares if Microsoft cant get it perfect, my Mac has problems sometimes as well, and they wont fix them either.

Hey Volvo driving liberal, I dont need you fighting my battles . I'm sorry you feel smarter than everyone else.

Why cant everyone just love each other.

I have a Mac, and I just wish everyone could get along. People are so judgemental and I love Windows as well as my Mac. Who cares if Microsoft cant get it perfect, my Mac has problems sometimes as well, and they wont fix them either.

Hey Volvo driving liberal, I dont need you fighting my battles . I'm sorry you feel smarter than everyone else.

I just installed Windows XP SP2 and my computer is running better than ever. Both thumbs up - way up!

Just tried to install SP2 on emachines laptop running XP Home. After reboot, message that "windows could not start successfully" and gave various options to reboot (safe mode, etc.). Tried all 5, all returned to same screen.

No doing full system recovery.

That article should give true statistics. I think its more like 15% of administrators who bothered to respond to this survey were morons.

SP2 toasted my Compaq Veo N1020V laptop. After installation, my laptop simply refused to boot to completion - it would load the boot sequence, then after about two minutes, would reboot the computer.

I have trouble feeling sympathy for those users who do not heed the overwhelming advice offered by nearly every source I have consulted:

Make a complete system backup before installing SP2.

While inconvenient to restore from a backup, you'll not have the same time and data loss from a complete reinstall.

Making regular backups make sense. But making a backup before SP2 is critical.

As to the Mac/Linux/Alternative crowd: While I understand that you don't have an SP2 to deal with, there have been difficult problems with every OS - users get through them (sometimes with grim determination and at great cost) but we will.

Installed on Athalon 3200+ 64 1 GB Ram best Vid & sound cards hardware drives etc to the Max ... minor software glitches .. a few reboots and uninstall of two (2) redundant security features SpyGaurd & Spy Sweeper and all seems ok ... so far so good ... 46 to 50 processes running and much (can you read I have it all) software of all configurations still working tickty Boo ....

The secrets in the sauce ... and experience as well as mileage will vary ... good luck to others ... It is working pour moi ...

SP2 downloaded in the background from the Windows Update with no problems. It installed in just over 20 minutes, onto an XPHome SP1 machine with a number of programs installed

Security Centre recognised ZoneAlarm and AVG, recognising the existance, if not status of the former, and informing me that the latter was fully updated.

No obvious difference in overall performance yet, andd I've been going for a few days now

I have successfully installed XP SP2 on over 30 systems (mine & customer systems) which run a vast array of applications, P3 & P4 & AMD, all sorts of peripherals, using anything from basic terminal sessions to Photoshop, and have had no problems at all with even a single system. The only "pain" was minor, which was to turn off the firewall on the LAN connection on each system for a proprietary printer application.
Other than that miniscule detail, it seems to be great so far!

I'm a dummy for computers. How do I make a complete back up of my hard drive? In the past, I've backed up my files only. Is there a way to get a complete duplicate of my hard drive? I have XP Home. Thanks.

I have installed it on my PC which runs XP Home and no issues with it. By the way the lastest edition Zonealarm 5.1 works with it.

I have installed it on my PC which runs XP Home and no issues with it. By the way the lastest edition Zonealarm 5.1 works with it.

My Color Computer work great after SP2

My Color Computer work great after SP2

> Hey Volvo driving liberal, I dont need you
> fighting my battles . I'm sorry you feel
> smarter than everyone else.

An odd thing to say after "Why cant everyone just love each other?"

I take it this means I am not entitled to be irritated by generalizations and stereotypes.

Because it was irrelevant I didn't mention that I'm "the Macintosh guy" around here. I'm interested in SP2 because I have an XP box myself to administer our LAN, because I help out the "Windows guys", and because I'm kicking around some ideas for large-scale deployment of VirtualPC that won't be feasable unless SP2 works as well as eveyone hopes.

So, NOW am I entitled to be irritated by generalizations and stereotypes?

(To bring this back on topic... The oddest thing I've heard so far about SP2 are claims that upgrading from an SP1 system ORIGINALLY BUILT FROM AN INSTALLER WITH SP1 SLIPSTREAMED IN is much more likely to have problems than upgrading a system that had SP1 installed after the fact. The guy who has done most of the testing built an install disk with SP2 slipstreamed in; that worked fine on a test box but when he tried to wipe out his personal box and do a fresh install he had the error with Windows Update mentioned earlier. He found the "sc sdset wuausrv" trick, and that seems to have worked.)

Can't afford a lawyer to go over the lengthy contracts, or whatever all those things are that come up when you are forced to hit "I agree" to make the software continue. Is there anyting in those that forces one to declare public software, public highways, public speaking, etc, as evil cancers that will destroy the American monoparchy way of life?

All that constant communtication and registration of behaviors in order to maintain MS citizenship and the rights to net. Feels so intimate.... There are just too many choices on Linux systems, can't handle the freedoms and lack of overlord direction...

OK, I have a small network - 2 XPs & 1 Win98, we like XP. The network is firewalled from the router and all machines run ZoneAlarm (belt & braces), we run Adaware & Spybot. We make full use of Hosts on all 3 machines. We use Firefox & Thunderbird for the web & email.

Both XP machines came as new with SP1 as part of the instal and we have installed all patches up to SP2.

No way would I risk this happy network by installing a very large piece of unproven software - 'twould be silly!

Nothing here is broken so we have nothing to fix :)

OK, I have a small network - 2 XPs & 1 Win98, we like XP. The network is firewalled from the router and all machines run ZoneAlarm (belt & braces), we run Adaware & Spybot. We make full use of Hosts on all 3 machines. We use Firefox & Thunderbird for the web & email.

Both XP machines came as new with SP1 as part of the instal and we have installed all patches up to SP2.

No way would I risk this happy network by installing a very large piece of unproven software - 'twould be silly!

Nothing here is broken so we have nothing to fix :)

Downloaded and installed SP2 from Windows Update last night, took about 20-30 minutes, and today my computer is running BETTER than ever, yee-haw! Highly recommended product to all the Windows users out there. 512 MB RAM, 1.8 GHz and an Athlon AMD chip, running Norton Systemworks 2004 and a host of other programs, and NO problems at all! Sweeeeet...

I have 0 problems with XP SP2, didn't install it, won't install it. Upgrading an OS (that's working) is fraught with risk, and I won't make that investment just cause Billy wants me to. Until I see an obvious gain, to justify the obvious risk it seems awfully like go, lemmings, go. Now don't take my word for it, Please, install SP2. More of you do, quicker it'll get patched into some semblance of trustworthy. Course, I do have various tweaks in place that improve security and stability. Comment 'More you've customized it, less certain the outcome' is dead right. If you've already fine tuned your comp, fuggedaboud SP2. If you're running a roomful, with minimally trained users, eh, bite the bullet.

Make that 753. Installed for allmost two weeks. Working fine. I like it!

Installed on 7 computers, 2 by windows update, 2 by network install from downloaded file, and 3 from a fresh install from a winXP CD i made with the sp2 file integrated. only one little glitch with one upgraded from the file where it hung after the fast user switch screen and before the taskbar and icons showed up even with explorer.exe running. but that only happened the first time after the install, a restart aleviated the prob. SP2 has been great, has stopped alot of problems from websited I know where problems are generated from. I like the built in popup blocker, and new firewall, but i dont like the look of the new wireless ibterface.

I'll probably wait a bit, do a "Ghost" backup, just in case, and then install SP2. Talked to the local PC company that built my machine and they are saying that they have had no problems with their machines, for what it's worth. Doing the "Ghost" or "image" is the only way to deal with this service pack, in my opinion.

OK... I updated two XP Home desktops, two XP Pro laptops and one XP Pro desktop to SP2 and I had no problems whasoever.
I downloaded the full IT pack and installed the update from a CD-ROM.

You complained because Microsoft didn't focused on security before SP2. You complained because Microsoft focused on security with SP2 and some programs will not behave exactly as before. You complained because SP2 took so many months before final release.

What's the problem here???? There will always be people that complain about something you did.

yeah, hmmm

I updated a Windows XP PRO machine for a client, It rebooted, and asked for the activation to reaccure. Looks like Microsoft is taking steps with Hacked Cracked OSs. The second one I updated was Also an XP Pro for a Client, All went well, But SP2 was blocking software that I didn't this Even connected to the internet. MS Flight sim 2004!? Cracked flight sim??
Also after the install, I noticed lots of extra activity on my network.

Mac and Linux users

Inferior Programing on Microsofts part does not entitle you to Gloat.

go linux

I've had all I can stand from the amount of holes in Windows XP , through getting hardware to play nice with Windows XP, to adding so much third party control that I've lost sight of the carefree 'user' I once was.
I thought about buying 'Ghost'. But Nortons charge like the proverbial and I've got third-party phobia now. I am not going to instal sp2.
I don't have the patience to learn linux and get everything to play nice with it too.
I ordered a mac last week. And the phone back-up service for a year.
I trust I will return to going online for entertainment and information about the rest of the world, rather than yet another bulletin about which exploit and what to patch it with.
XP is a dud unless you like being a geek,

Scaned my network with corp av 9, spybot s&d then Installed sp2 on over 100 computers via SUSserver update. The next day 12 computers + 5 laptops various makes and speeds did not boot up into windows. Not even in safe mode. They start to boot and just restart over and over again. Used slipstreamed xp sp2 cd to completely re-do the the 17 computers. Was it worth it? NO.

why do you people care at all about any of this?
go outside and mow your lawns

I have installed SP 2 on 2 home machines running Pro and 3 at work also running Pro. To date I have not any problems at home or at work. All are Intel P3 & 4.

Was going to wait a little longer, but a friend said he had no problems. Since I've installed, not a single problem.

I have a brand new computer (ok, 1 month old) and I installed SP2. It seemed to be okay until I was working on several files and had various software programs running (like Photoshop and Microsoft Word) and I had the first instance of things not being ok. I got this weird blue screen of death that had some kind of message about dumping something. Believe me, on a brand new (high end) system...that was frightening. I had it happen twice and decided SP2 was not for me.

By the way, it also messed with AOL and i had to turn off the Windows firewall anyway. So, WHY CAN'T WE GET AN SP2 WITHOUT a firewall?????

Sheesh. So, the solution... NO, I did not have to redo the whole system. I just used System Restore and selected the Restore date right before I installed SP2 and that put me back to where I was before the SP2 nightmare

I have a computer that is only 1 month old.

I told ya not to install SP2...but ya never listen don't ya...never listen...grrrr ;)

I have installed sp2 on my amd 2.2 home system and a 333 p2 laptop both running xp-pro, both systems never ran better.

Rock on !!!

I am an IT manager. I installed this SP2 on my home machine and it crashed! Can you believe it? I am a manager!

My wife came home from work early and got my machine back up. She is the brains and of course, she is NOT a manager!

Unfortunately, after she went to work, the PC crashed again! Then, my 7 year old son came home from school and said, DAD........ you need to turn the monitor on! jeeeesh!

Installed on XP Pro. Links on internet explorer were moved all around. Unable to install active x controls since the information menu does not show.

Tried to restore IE defaults and removed the firewall/popup feature but still no luck.

I was able to disable the security icon by going into msconfig under services and de selecting security manager.

going to uninstall tonite.

btw, athlon 700 mhz 20 gig drive.

XP SP2 Pah, all it does is complain that your windows automatic update settings arent to its liking, tells you what antivirus software you have on your computer and re-enables the useless windows builtin firewall. It also dramatically increased bootup time. Dont install it!