Windows XP SP2 for Home & Pro - Now available!

[NICK ADSL UK]

Please note that Microsoft"s New Windows update site Is as Follows
http://v5.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/v5consumer/default.aspx?ln=en-us

Windows Update requires the following services:
Automatic Updates enables detection, downloading, and installation of critical updates for your computer.
Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) enables faster, restartable downloading of updates.
Event Log logs Windows Update events for troubleshooting. To ensure that these services are enabled:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. Type services.msc and then click OK.
3. In the list of services, right-click the service name, and then click Properties.
4. In the Startup type list, select Automatic.
5. Verify that the service status is started.

[NICK ADSL UK]

Please note that Microsoft's Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) is now available for download on automatic updates only at this time

AND PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING THIS UPDATE



http://v5.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/v5consumer/default.aspx?ln=en-us

[the mul]

Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) provides new proactive security technologies for Windows XP, to better defend against viruses, worms, and hackers. In addition to a more robust security infrastructure, SP2 improves the security configuration options of Windows XP, and provides better security information to help users faced with security decisions.
Check this article for a complete list of Microsoft Security Bulletins are included in Service Pack 2 http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/news/xpsp2.mspx


List of fixes included in Windows XP Service Pack 2
This article contains a list of Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) articles that describe the fixes and updates that are contained in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2).
See this article: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;%5bLN%5d;811113.


THE MUL

[NICK ADSL UK]

Windows XP Service Pack 2 for professional is now available for download

Please note that Microsoft's"s windows xp SP2 for professional is now available for download on automatic updates only at this time

AND PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING THIS UPDATE

http://v5.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/v5consumer/default.aspx?ln=en-us

[NICK ADSL UK]

Please note that if you wish to place your order now with Microsoft for the service pack 2 which is now live you may now do so

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/sp2/cdorder/en_us/default.mspx

[NICK ADSL UK]

UPDATED ON THE 31-8-04
Go to the XP sp2 network install download site and select your language.

new added are Chinese (HongKong), Portugese (Brazil), Italian, and Russian

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=049C9DBE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A&displaylang=en

[NICK ADSL UK]

Arabic language version of Windows XP Service Pack 2 is available to download
http://www.cpilive.net/news_ver2/inside.asp?wherefrom=search&newsitem=104200443709AMCOMPUTER+NEWS+ME.htm&channel=COMPUTER+NEWS+ME


http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=ar&FamilyID=049C9DBE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A

[NICK ADSL UK]

Microsoft Partner Pack for Windows XP
The Microsoft Partner Pack for Windows XP. The Partner Pack is the ultimate application package for your Windows XP PC. Install this package and you will be able to play new games and have more fun, explore the internet in new ways, keep in touch and share information with friends and family, better protect your PC and do more with tools and desktop utilities. You can either download this software package for free or get a CD (and pay just for Shipping and Handling).
Full details can be found here where you may also order a cd should you so wish. But please bear in mind this service is not up and running at this time but will be shortly
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/partnerpack/


http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/partnerpack/

[NICK ADSL UK]

What to do after installing Service Pack 2 (SP2)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;ln;xpsp2installed

Some programs seem to stop working after you install Windows XP Service Pack 2
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=842242

Programs that may behave differently in Windows XP Service Pack 2
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=884130&product=windowsxpsp2

Changes to Functionality in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/sp2chngs.mspx

How Windows Firewall affects the UPnP framework in Windows XP Service Pack 2
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=886257

Description of the Windows Firewall feature in Windows XP Service Pack 2
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=843090&product=windowsxpsp2

List of fixes included in Windows XP Service Pack 2
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q811113

Windows XP Service Pack 2 Network Installation Package for IT Professionals and Developers
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=049C9DBE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A&displaylang=en

The hard disk space requirements for Windows XP Service Pack 2
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=837783

How to turn on remote debugging in Windows XP Service Pack 2
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;833977

Security enhancements in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;832490

875364 Detailed Windows XP Service Pack 2 installation walkthrough
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;875364

875350 How to remove Windows XP Service Pack 2 from your computer
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;875350

878454 How to help protect your computer if you decide to remove Windows XP Service Pack 2
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;878454

Your computer stops responding when you restart to complete the installation of Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885626

[NICK ADSL UK]

Please remember that SP2 is a complete update: You can even install SP2 on a brand-new, "virgin" install of the original (pre-SP1) XP, if you wish. SP2 should bring your system up to date in one step.
Of course, you'll need to install any post-SP2 patches that may appear as time goes on, but at least you will have SP2 in one easy step.

[NICK ADSL UK]

Windows XP Service Pack 2
Problem Solver

Copyright © 2004 Hans-Georg Michna

http://www.michna.com/kb/WxSP2.htm#Cannot_install_Service_Pack_2

[NICK ADSL UK]

Windows XP Service Pack 2 Support Tools
The Windows Support Tools for Microsoft Windows XP are intended for use by Microsoft support personnel and experienced users to assist in diagnosing and resolving computer problems.



Quick Info
File Name:
WindowsXP-KB838079-SupportTools-ENU.exe

Download Size:
4819 KB

Date Published:
8/10/2004

Version:
SP2

This download is available to customers running genuine Microsoft Windows.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=49ae8576-9bb9-4126-9761-ba8011fabf38&displaylang=en

[NICK ADSL UK]

PLEASE TAKE NOTE
Microsoft Reminds Users Of Auto SP2 Update Deadline
TechWeb - USA
Microsoft has begun reminding users who last year blocked the installation of Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) that a deadline is fast approaching. ...

http://www.techweb.com/wire/security/60402124

[NICK ADSL UK]

Get-Out-the-SP2 Effort Continues at Microsoft

February 24, 2005 • by Scott Bekker

Amid all the industry-shaking security moves Microsoft unveiled last week, the company also updated its progress on distributing Windows XP Service Pack 2 -- its most far-reaching effort to date to improve the security of the average computer on the Internet.
"We've got 170 million people who did the automatic download and more people who have taken the CDs and installed those very broadly, so that's a very significant amount of updating," Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates said during his RSA Conference keynote last week.
The statement paled in comparison to Gates' other disclosures last week -- Internet Explorer 7.0 will come before Windows "Longhorn," Microsoft AntiSpyware will be free, the company will offer an anti-virus product by the end of this year and the Microsoft Update and Windows Update Services infrastructures are nearly ready.

But while those announcements are roiling the $10-billion security industry, Microsoft's greatest potential for improving security comes from its effort to raise the protections on the 90 percent or more of personal computers running Windows software worldwide. Viruses, malware, trojans and zombie network schemes thrive on the massive global installed base of broadband-connected Windows computers unprotected by firewalls or anti-virus software.

Microsoft is distributing Windows XP SP2 in a number of ways -- through Automatic Updates, through Windows Update, at the Microsoft Download Center, by distributing CDs and by including SP2 by default in new versions of Windows.

The update in the Gates keynote was the first since Microsoft reported in October that more than 106 million copies of SP2 went out in the first two months of availability, surpassing a publicly stated goal of distributing 100 million copies. At the time, IDC analyst Al Gillen estimated there were 255 million copies of Windows XP on the market, giving SP2 a penetration a little higher than 40 percent.

Using Gates' new figure, Microsoft has distributed 65 million more copies of SP2 in the following four months. Assuming the company sold another 25 million to 30 million new Windows XP licenses with SP2 over that same period means the company is still pushing the service pack heavily outside of new sales -- and may have distributed the bits to nearly 60 percent of Windows users.

Not all the service packs Microsoft distributed are installed -- actual deployment seems a bit slower. Corporations, for example, are rolling SP2 out at their own pace. Microsoft says it surveyed 800 enterprise customers recently and received commitments from 77 percent to deploy SP2 over the next six months. High-profile examples include Merrill Lynch, which is deploying SP2 to 50,000 desktops by mid-year and law firm Holland + Knight, which has already deployed SP2 to 3,500 PCs.

Industry observers generally approved of Microsoft's efforts to secure Windows XP with free security enhancements, although many found fault with the company's decision to limit the security upgrades only to users of Windows XP. Microsoft, however, remains intent on focusing its best effort to improve client security on Windows XP. Evidence came in the announcement last week that the new security-focused upgrade of Internet Explorer, version 7.0, would only be available for customers running Windows XP SP2. The rest of Microsoft's customers -- the total number of PCs running Windows lies somewhere between 600 million and 700 million, according to Microsoft -- must fend for themselves or pay for the upgrade to XP.

Meanwhile, Gates vowed Microsoft will keep pushing SP2 out to Windows XP users. "On a weekend, if you look out on the Internet and see the activities that are going on, you have about half the users connecting up to Web sites who are using SP2," Gates said, citing research by WebSideStory. "That's a good number. But over the next year, we need to drive that number up to be almost all of those users."

Scott Bekker is news editor of Redmond Magazine. He started covering the Microsoft enterprise environment for ENT Magazine in 1998 and has been editor in chief at ENT since October 1999. Previously, Scott worked for 4 1/2 years as an editor and reporter with The Associated Press in Kansas City, Mo., and Philadelphia.

http://www.redmondmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=6581

[NICK ADSL UK]

Please take note!!!
http://v5.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/v5consumer/default.aspx?ln=en-us

[NICK ADSL UK]

Microsoft reminds: SP2 deadline is close

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Temporarily Disabling Delivery of Windows XP Service Pack 2 Through Windows Update and Automatic Updates
Introduction
UPDATE: Time is running out! Please note that the mechanism to temporarily disable delivery of Windows XP SP2 is only available for a period of 240 days (8 months) from August 16, 2004. At the end of this period (after April 12, 2005), Windows XP SP2 will be delivered to all Windows XP and Windows XP Service Pack 1 systems.

Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) contains major security improvements designed to provide better protection against hackers, viruses, and worms. Windows XP SP2 also improves the manageability of the security features in Windows XP and provides more and better information to help users make decisions that may potentially affect their security and privacy. Because of these significant improvements, Microsoft views Windows XP SP2 as an essential security update and is therefore distributing it as a “critical update” via Windows Update (WU) and the Automatic Updates (AU) delivery mechanism in Windows. Microsoft strongly urges customers with Windows XP and Windows XP Service Pack 1-based systems to update to Windows XP SP2 as soon as possible.

What is the purpose of this mechanism?
While recognizing the security benefits of Windows XP SP2, some organizations have requested the ability to temporarily disable delivery of this update via AU and WU. These organizations have populations of PCs, upon which they have enabled AU. This is done to ensure that these PCs receive all critical security updates.

Since SP2 will start to be delivered to PCs running Windows XP or Windows XP with SP1 via AU starting on August 16, these customers would like to temporarily block the delivery of SP2 in order to provide additional time for validation and testing of the update. In response to these requests, Microsoft is providing the following guidance, resources, and communication vehicles to meet the needs of these customers.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/sp2aumng.mspx

[NICK ADSL UK]

Please note that as from the 12th of April Microsoft has turned Off XP SP2 Blocking

In effect what this means is that you will automatically receive the service pack sp2 weather you like it or not. The only way round this issue for a home or business customer is to make sure you have automatic updates turned off. If you remain at all unsure in what action you should take then do look at the website Microsoft Worldwide Office in where you will be able to receive full support regarding the service pack 2. To visit the Web site of any Microsoft Worldwide Office for support regarding the service pack 2 can be found here
http://www.microsoft.com/worldwide/

For those of you who have installed the service pack 2 the links above in this thread will prove very useful for future reference

[NICK ADSL UK]

Clean Up Your Hard Drive After Upgrading Windows!!!

Recover hard disk space by deleting unneeded uninstall folders; give pop-up help the boot; get one-click access to your configuration settings.
I have found this useful link you may care to look at
http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,119281,00.asp