Window XP service pack 2.

[KenM]

Windows XP Service Pack 2 is now posted over at http://www.fileplanet.com/. I just finished installing the beast.

My Widows update did not show it was available to download yet, however to my surprise I found it posted over at the above site.

Fileplanet, have to wait in line to download, then wait until a 250 MB download is done.
Anyone know if SP 2 fixes the problem Win XP has saving pictures only as .BMP files??

 

[drothgery]

Fileplanet, have to wait in line to download, then wait until a 250 MB download is done.
Anyone know if SP 2 fixes the problem Win XP has saving pictures only as .BMP files??

I don't know, but the fix for that is to clear out your temporary internet files directory (it's non-obvious, but it will definitely work).

 

[thatdarncat]

Does anyone know if sp2 fixes the conflict between the advanced networking pack and norton products?

 

[KenM]

I don't know, but the fix for that is to clear out your temporary internet files directory (it's non-obvious, but it will definitely work).

I do that, and about a month later, it goes to only doing .bmp. Microsoft should be able to fix this at some point.

 

[drothgery]

I do that, and about a month later, it goes to only doing .bmp. Microsoft should be able to fix this at some point.

You might want to change your settings (Go to the Tools menu, select Internet Options, look at the Temporary Internet Files section, and click on settings) to allocate more space to Temporary Internet Files, if you're routinely running into this problem (which you really shouldn't). Microsoft can't fix the problem without radically changing how IE handles images. Assuming you've got the disk space, try allocating five to ten times what you are now to start with.

 

[KenM]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/08/16/news_6104980.html

Looks like the firewall that comes with service pack 2 screws up some games online. For those that have service pack 2 already, how easy is it to disable the firewall that comes with it? I already have a firewall that I'm happy with. I heard the firewall that comes with service pack 2 is automattally one when you install it.

 

[Jeremy]

Windows XP SP2 was distributed to manufacturers, beta testers, and developers earlier this week and will continue being rolled out to the general populace via automatic updates at the rate of about 25,000 to 50,000 random users per day.

It includes security updates to windows, internet explorer, outlook express, and quite a few optimizations to the way windows works.

It does increase security settings across the board and defaults the windows firewall (formerly Internet Connection Firewall) to on to help protect new users who get their brand new computers home and get an internet worm the first time they get online.

You can read more about it at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;windowsxpsp2

While it may be available at mirrors and download sites in various places, and is even available at Microsoft's website for those who know where to look, I'd recommened waiting for the automatic update. Then it can customize it's installation to your computer using some of the new automatic update optimizations and only download the updates you need rather than the full 260+ MB network installation package that is used to deploy XP SP 2 over a network.

Though I must say, on a whole, it is very nice. The pop up blocking tool, info bar, the way html content in emails is blocked by default (so spammers can't track hits on their web pages downloading the pictures in their messages to validate email address for more spam) and several other features are very nice.

 

[Jeremy]

Oh, about the firewall, I have a hardware firewall, but given the ease of use of the windows firewall and the added security, I use both now.

While you can still open ports manually for applications like any other firewall, it will also detect the first time an application requests a port to be opened for it much like some other firewall applications and then can make an exception for it.

So rather than have to find out what port Diablo II uses to connect to Battle.net I just launch Diablo II, and when it tries to connect, the firewall asks me if I want to allow it to. From then on, Diablo II gets through the firewall without prompting me and all I had to do was click on one thing.

Of course you can always turn that off through the security center later if you want to discontinue a program's access to the firewall. And it's all on a nice easy list if you want to see at a glance what has firewall access rights.

 

[Jeremy]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/08/16/news_6104980.html

Looks like the firewall that comes with service pack 2 screws up some games online. For those that have service pack 2 already, how easy is it to disable the firewall that comes with it? I already have a firewall that I'm happy with. I heard the firewall that comes with service pack 2 is automattally one when you install it.

There's some detailed instructions on that over here that are step by step, but as you can see by the picture, it's just a click.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/security/internet/sp2_wfsettings.mspx

 

[akchf]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/08/16/news_6104980.html

Looks like the firewall that comes with service pack 2 screws up some games online. For those that have service pack 2 already, how easy is it to disable the firewall that comes with it? I already have a firewall that I'm happy with. I heard the firewall that comes with service pack 2 is automattally one when you install it.

It's pretty easy to shut off from the control panel. One of the patches just before the SP2 release put the firewall on, but you had to go to your internet connection and play with the settings to shut it off. Now there are a couple of managers in the control panel that help you adjust the security settings.