Although SP2 is being recommended by Microsoft, it may be a hassle and more trouble than it's worth. For starters, if your copy of Windows XP isn't exactly retail, SP2 won't install. Earlier, some Microsoft officials were saying that, even though they are dead set against "piracy" (they really should use the proper term, copyright infringement), that to them, stopping the spread of internet viruses was more important. Then, they "flipflopped" and said, NO, SP2 will definitely NOT install on a "pirated" copy of Windows XP.

But, what's this about it maybe giving you problems with filesharing?

WinXPNews.com today, sent out an e-mail to those subscribing to its newsletter that advises that the SP2, MAY cause some problems with filesharing (surely Bill Gates never intended to cause problems for filesharing users did he? ).

The filesharing issue is but one of the reported problems.
From WinXPNews :
"Several readers have mentioned problems with DOS-based games and online games. Others are having problems with peer-to-peer software. The latter is based on the fact that SP2 limits connections per port to 10 (this is to help slow the spread of viruses and worms such as Sasser), so programs such as eMule, that open connections to a lot of different destinations, are slowed down, too.

A few users are reporting general slowdowns, although many others say they haven't noticed any change in performance. A few others say XP is faster after the installation. Many say the bootup process takes slightly longer. Lots of people have complained about the time required to install SP2, typically from half an hour to an hour, depending on your machine.

We've heard that SP2 can slow down your FireWire (IEEE 1394) 800 devices, but that this can be fixed by reinstalling the SP2 FireWire drivers after you install SP2.

We've also heard about conflicts with ZoneAlarm. This is probably because SP2 turns on the Windows Firewall by default. If you use a third party firewall product, you need to turn off the Windows Firewall.

SP2 may affect users of Outlook Web Access (OWA). If you get your company email from an Exchange server using the OWA Web interface, check out this KB article:
http://www.winxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=040817ED-KB_883575 ".

After reading the pros and cons, I decided NOT to install SP2.

But, it may work for others. Caveat emptor (buyer beware) still is a good guideline, even with a "free" download.

Well, it's a good thing I have an old 98SE-running computer, isn't it? I'm beginning to mistrust any of Microsoft's 'Windows Updates'.

=======
Although SP2 is being recommended by Microsoft, it may be a hassle and more trouble than it's worth. For starters, if your copy of Windows XP isn't exactly retail, SP2 won't install.
========

Really? Well I must have just hallucinated installing sp2 and it running perfectly on my copied copy of XP Corp then.

NO there is no problems with file sharing. Windows firewall will ask if you want to allow *INSERT FILE SHARING APP* to use the Internet and then allow it or block it according to your input.

Someone please correct the blatant inaccuracies in the article. Do people even do research before posting this FUD?

Sorry to double post but, it just seems like the author gathered a list of all the rumors about SP2 he could find and submitted it as REAL news.

ATTENTION JAYBDAY:

1. Re-read the title of the article . It ends with a ?, as if its asking a question.

2. Read Winxpnews, an attributed source, and compare it to the article posted above.

3. Tell us again what your complaint is. We can't figure it out.

4. What the hell is REAL NEWS? Paris and Nicole? WSJ? Slashdot? MTV?


Thankyou.
Leflaw
Director, Dmusic cranial-anal removal specialist.

Considering previous personal nightmare experiences with SP1, SP2 isn't "happening" for me anyway.
Also considering the corporate "climate" against P2P, this isn't a surprise.

one more thing ....
It does mention in the article, that these are things they "heard". Although some lucky few didn't have problems with SP1, many more did.
You may have just gotten lucky.

I was talking about the people over at WinXPNews.

You were criticising the poster, not the article.

Thanks for the warning...I have had problems before after downloading updates from microsoft. I will certainly not risk my new hard drive until I hear more about sp2.

The author posted, "if your copy of Windows XP isn't exactly retail, SP2 won't install." That is false, I pointed that out.

I also said that points from the winXPnews.com newsletter were also false.

I believe, Jay, that the reason you were able to install SP2 is because you have the corporate version, which requires no activation (at least the last I heard it didn't).

Also, it depends on your product key. Microsoft placed the most copied keys on a blacklist meaning if you used that key, then SP2 won't install. And since most people downloading Windows off of the Internet will go to the serial sites to get the key, Microsoft knows which ones to blacklist.

Aside from settling that argument, I will not be installing SP2 for the simple fact that I don't use Windows XP. I tried it once and it didn't fly for me so I switched to Windows 2000. It's more stable than Windows 98 and less hassle than Windows XP. Yes, my mom has WinXP on her computer, but only because it's brand new.

Funny thing about news. It usually comes in 3 main catagories. The political scene, the religous scene, or the gossip part.

We all like to hear what we don't know. Not all of it is true and not all of it is false. You sort of have to find your own way on that.

Without some sort of warning you never know there is or is not a problem. Checking on what is said or reported is one way you find out. No one said news is always truthful, if it was there would be no justification for this site.

At some point folks have to poke and prod the edges. The companies such as Micro$uck$ isn't going to tell you all it knows about it. You have to find it out somewhere else. Like all the rest you have to travel the trail of someone else for the most part and decide if it fits or not.

In many ways I have had about enough of Micro$uck$ and its and its wide open security holes that require a fix every week and that still doesn't keep you clean, clear, or safe. Add to that the registration/activation thing.

Many may have read in prior posts here that I was having a go round with a particularly nasty form of spyware. What I didn't mention is that in the process of trying to get it clean I have installed the OS to many times and the program no longer accepts the authorized key that came with the computer. I will be darned if I will pay them again for a copy that was already legal. I didn't do anything wrong except try to fix the problem caused by their holes in the programming.

I have decided that it is time to learn Linux and have downloaded that from a website on the net. Maybe I figure it out, maybe not. Either way, there has to be something out there that isn't full of holes. I would say prehaps Apple would be a choice but it will not run on an IBM clone and doesn't have enough software support.

Be that as it may. Enough of the crappy software that is being pushed off on us as being "the thing". Software is one of the only products you see that comes out for you to buy but isn't complete when put on the shelf. You always gotta go back for the patch. I wouldn't buy a car without tires and the promise they will be in sometime in the future. What makes Micro$uck$ think I am going to put up with this crap?

From the many different sites i go to, there were some good points but mostly they were not in favor of sp2. It's not what it should be, Wait for a few months so they can work out the bugs. Also see if it has more phone homes and other things you do not want. I wonder if its full of drm? In a month go to black viper's site if you have xp. hell go there now.
http://www.blackviper.com/index.html
it's very informative.

I think these warnings are always appropriate and welcomed....we need to be aware of potential problems, especially with the duplicity of Micro-Shaft! Thanks Code!

I was also able to install it no problem on 2 XP Home copies and 1 XP pro, all had "fake" serial keys.

SP2 does prevent some p2p programs functioning fully. The eMule developer forums have been discussing workarounds for some time. The user can open a port easily enough, through depending on the complexity of the process that can be a problem for the newbies. I havn't heard about the ten-connections-per-port limit anywhere else, but if thats true it would make some clients extremally unreliable. I doupt fasttrack/kazaa would notice, but emule wouldn't work well without some networking code changes.

Its nothing the p2p devlopers can't code around through.

Sorry, gotta hijack the thread for a second. But what's a good browser that works with HP printers other than IE? I promise to only do this one more time this month.

Other than that, what's the point of getting MS updates? Everytime you get one, you never know what's going on behind the scenes. For all I know they could be having spyware installing and people wouldn't know.

I have had NO loss of functionality in eMule. I leave it running 24/7 and speeds and connections are the same as before.

It's just a rumor.

All of these 'problems' are only affecting stupid retards that leave the Windows Firewall (which is still crap) turned on. Haven't they learned by now that the stuff that M$ bundle with their OS is ALWAYS bug-ridden garbage?

Just because you have good luck with Windows update, doesn't mean that everyone will. Franlkly, I advisepeple to install the updates as their own risk.

Best advise, wait a couple of months, and see what complaints come in to the forum's out there relating to XP, then make an informed decision about wether up up-grade or not.

I just recently installed SP2 on my machine, and I haven't had any problems downloading music from BearShare so far.

I doubt that Microsoft intended SP2 to make it difficult to use P2P. Microsoft isn't stupid; they know how popular P2P is, and if they started to develop software upgrades which deliberately hindered P2P use, it will cause more customers to take a serious look at Linux.

Fuck Microsoft! Updates? We don't need no stinking udates.

Just my opinion but more than likely the integration of SP2 will be a good thing overall. Not necessarilly to common users of this website.

Everyone around here knows the importance of firewalls, antivirus and antispam software. Unfortunately, most of the people who run XP don't have a sweet clue how to protect themselves but are getting broadband and the latest superfast and powerful computers....the perfect targets for trojans and spammers.

This update is not what Microsoft wants to do....obviously they want to wait to release the next platform..however the ease at which their software is being exploited has forced their hand. They used to ignore most people's complaints about the vunerability of their OS...afterall , they would say..where are you going to go?

Now , Linex is making inroads and expanding considerably. Microsoft is being forced into making it's users' computers safer. You'll soon be hearing stories about old software and peripherals freezing up the computers of these updated systems but the main thing is to get all those dummies' firewalls up and running.

However, like a few people have said, the jury is still out on the benefits or effectiveness of SP2.

I'll probably let it update my computer but I don't really need it for it's intended purpose. I was running windows Me before and while it was okay when I got the computer every other type of software passed it by making it obsolete. I have XP Pro now and it's good enough for what I want.

To those who get on about how much their O/S is or how bad everyone else's is, they should listen to http://www.nwttc.com/Fun/Every_os_sucks.mp3

Hope the link works.

JayBDey- Number one, the article said there were reported problems. Number two, if I was running a warez copy of XP corp, I certainly wouldn't be bragging about it online. Number three, when you go to microsoft update just to get critical updates, it checks your Product ID and if it doesn't match the list, it refuses to grant you access. Also, they can check your IP address when you connect to try to get updates. You're dancing on quickly sinking ground.

In my past, I worked as major accounts (government, schools, univ.,law enforcement) for one of, if not THE biggest computer manufacturers in the world. I used to have to support WIN NT. I regularly had to deal with boxes that crashed after installs of those updates.

I'm leaving the SP off ALL my boxes.

NiceGuy...Microsoft is definitely checking corporate PIDs during all updates...and the leaked keys for the ProCorp ver are on the net. And, guess what...Microsoft employees in the "piracy" department, know how to Google and use the rest of the search "toolz".

Lothar2, I advise the same. Never be the first nor the last to adopt.

Damn, my bad...I didn't read all of NiceGuy's post, and I apologize.
NiceGuy was right on target.

I've run Win products since DOS 5.0. I used a beta of Win95 for a while before it was released, so, I'm not a newbie to boxes nor OSs. I think that M$ is getting more tricky about what they do. There was a lot of talk on the Net in the Geek forums about Micro$oft saying that because they worried about the spread of viruses, they would allow it to install on "pirated" copies of Windows, and then, after a bit, they said no. I think this was not just miscomminication. I think they wanted people with "pirated" copies to download and try the intstall.

I haven't gone over the code in SP2, BUT, there's a lot of code there, and I am getting more and more suspicious about M$ and the ability of the OS to "phone home" and convey data about your box and its contents. With more people with cable modem's online 24/7, I think that's a concern. I lock my box down to keep it from accessing all but the sites (and IP addresses) I authorize.

No, not a conspiracy there. MS just wasn't sure. When they must choose between control and market share, they often stall for a while and change at the last minute. I saw a lot of that back when Palladium announcements were coming out frequently. One day there would be no code signing, the next only authorised, signed programs would be able to access the secure functions, the next only authorised programs can access the media features fully, and then back to no signing again. Edventually it ended when the Palladium project built up so much bad press it was renamed to NGSCB, and soon after that was combined with the rest of the Trustworthy Computing initative. Ive no doupt the Evil Schemes are still running somewhere in the shady back rooms of Microsoft HQ, executives discussing just how much propritary technology they can sneak in to remove interoperability without the critical business users switching to linux. But they will still be stalling.

Oh, SP2 has a short list of serials it wont install on. Very short. Remember, MS doesn't mind copying by home users at all. Helps give it market share, and doesn't cost them much. Its the *business* users they insist license, and to a lesser extent academic users.

No, not a conspiracy there. MS just wasn't sure. When they must choose between control and market share, they often stall for a while and change at the last minute. I saw a lot of that back when Palladium announcements were coming out frequently. One day there would be no code signing, the next only authorised, signed programs would be able to access the secure functions, the next only authorised programs can access the media features fully, and then back to no signing again. Edventually it ended when the Palladium project built up so much bad press it was renamed to NGSCB, and soon after that was combined with the rest of the Trustworthy Computing initative. Ive no doupt the Evil Schemes are still running somewhere in the shady back rooms of Microsoft HQ, executives discussing just how much propritary technology they can sneak in to remove interoperability without the critical business users switching to linux. But they will still be stalling.

Oh, SP2 has a short list of serials it wont install on. Very short. Remember, MS doesn't mind copying by home users at all. Helps give it market share, and doesn't cost them much. Its the *business* users they insist license, and to a lesser extent academic users.

The list of leaked serials at M$ that they check is growing.

It will install on corporate with a self generated key. The 10 connections limit is not total limit but limit per second or something (Milliseconds?). Some P2P already do this by default. Azureus for Bittorrent already has such an option.

There is also a patch you can get to change the tcpip.sys file to allow as many connections as you like.

Since installing SP2 my system has been more responsive and less prone to bug out.

I haven't installed Windows XP SP2 yet and I'd advise others not to do so either. I have a corporate version of Windows XP w/SP1 on a CD. Istay away from Windows Update. I download all critical security updates manually as individual files from the MS Security Bulletin and install them. I disable all MS phone home gadgets with a program called XP AntiSpy. I don't trust Windows Update at all ever since about a year ago when I heard rumors that MS includes spyware with their OS. I have heard various rumors that Windows XP and Windows 2000 SP3+ include secret snooping features where MS can collect information aboutsome of the things you do on your PC. Since then, I have not trusted Windows Update at all. I ensure that all the MS phone home gadgets are disabled inclduing Automatic Updates and Error Reporting service. I even disable Error Reproting with Group Policy Editor as well as the system service.

Cool info DeadMan2003 and thanks!

My opinion is the same as Prideful!

The one nice thing I have to say about XP Pro is that it really is the most stable of the incarnations of Windows. But, later versions (i.e. Longhorn or whatever they end up naming the next ver) will contain too much DRM type nonsense...just try to uninstall Windows Media Player version 9.0!

I would agree that I am concerned about the next version of Windows. I hope by then, that Linux will become more mainstream and start to overtake Windows. I have WMP9 installed, but I have every single thing unchecked on the privacy tab as well as Start Player in Media Guide, Copy Protect Music, Prompt Me to Back Up my Licenses, and Add Purchased Media to Library, and Automatic downloading of codecs. There is no choice to diable checking for updates in WMP9, however with Group Policy Editor in XP Pro, you can enable a setting that prevents WMP9 from updating itself which is what I did as well. How about you?

And you can't even uninstall WMP8 either, but once you install WMP9, there is no going back unless you reformat and install WIndows XP over again. But I think WMP9 is fine as long as you do what I did and disable every potential privacy invading option. What do you think?

I am in no way a computer nerd, but I am sure that my old hard drive crashed after downloading an update from M$ plus having windows media player 9...that is where the trouble began. So I am not going to be needing #9, even though it had some cool stuff on it. And I will wait for further info before sp2 goes on this machine.

Hawk...thanks for the blackviper info...lots of stuff there!