SP2??

Nah....think I'll stick with my SP4

 

Hi, Cochise

Good question.

From what I have read in the press and seen on TV.

I think I will be waiting for XP-SP3.

Too many must have turn on Services for my liking.

Take Care,
TheQuest

 

Our update guru nick just posted that XP SP2 is now available via automatic updates ONLY.

 

I have automatic updates disabled, no notion of getting SP2 and just reformatted and not even considering SP1 again or other patches and my computer is faster than ever. So far no programs cryng for SP1.
(I have a solid line of defence)

 

ermmmmm!! It came up other day on auto updates i ticked d/l it...it was a box thing with sp2 in it...I assume that Sp2 is d/l in the background now oh oi...did i botch up? i was thinking about it..and hope it dont screw me system? Wots the best advice..?..I do have the option to install updates when duN?? regards maddawgz

 

It depends on your Automatic Update settings. In any case, I doubt your system has been damaged.

Nick

 

I just read Micro$oft's "Top 10 Reasons to Install Windows XP SP2." It is being called "Recommended," but not a "Critical Update." I've got two questions and would be grateful for opinions :

• Is SP2 going to keep my system more secure than it already is with SpywareBlaster (and Sbybot S&D/Ad-Aware), AVG-6, Sygate Personal FW, IE-SPYAD, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, e-Dexter, a frequently updated HOSTS file, seeing emails first in plain text, saving & scanning attachments prior to viewing, being careful about what I download & from where, and already understanding my security settings?
• And will future patches and updates be based on the assumption that SP2 was installed, and cause problems or be ineffective if I do not have it? In other words, how long is it practical for me to delay it before it will do me more harm than good?

 

On your first question, there's probably no need to go to SP2 until exploits are developed specifically for SP1 and those security apps running on SP1 systems. On the second question, I would expect fixes to be issued for each SP, mainly because commercial users don't upgrade immediately. Nothing wrong with waiting. (I've had no problems with SP2 since RC2 on my desktop and laptop).

Nick

 

Thank you both. If I knew what RC2 and Version 4 were, I'd know exactly what you said! I'm confident any doomed we may be is unrelated.

 

Thanks...and laughing at "The Night Before Startup."

 

(clap....clap....clap) I like I like Ron very funny.

 

Bravo Ronjor!! A man of hidden talents. More please, the cyber world needs a bard!

 

I would have to say IMHO, waiting to download SP2 is probably the wise thing to do. I look at big Microsoft SPs like that like Caution Signs on the highway, watch out, proceed with caution. Anyways, major thanks to Wilders for keeping their message board out of the trash can. Seen too much of that on other boards...not a pretty site. By the way, my PC is quite stable at the moment. No sense upsetting the apple carts.

 

I installed SP2 and the start up time seems to have quadrupled !!

My system is taking longer to start up nowadays since I've been spending too much time reading this forum and installing/testing additional security goodies . I've never timed it but I guess it usually takes about a minute from first view of desktop.

That aside, after installing SP2 last night, from first view of the desktop at startup until all systray apps have started and the desktop icons have found their links, I have enough time to go away and boil the kettle and make a cup of tea!! It's ridiculous. Performance seems normal thereafter though.

With the weekend coming up I'll have chance to spend a bit of time troubleshooting but my gut feel is that I will be restoring my previous ghost image - no big loss, I wanted to install SP2 more out of curiosity than any real desire to have it.

Has anyone else experienced such a dramatic slowdown at startup?

Just for info my specs and startup apps:
XP2400 on MSI NForce 2 mobo
512 DDR RAM running dual channel

Major startup apps:
Outpost Pro 2.1
Kaspersky 4.5 Pro (resident)
NOD32 control center (on demand advanced heuristics)
SpywareGuard
SpywareBlaster
PGP Tray
MSI PC Alert 4
Spybot 1.3 (with Tea Timer)

 

I heard from pcworld.com that microsoft has again delayed SP2's delivery via automatic updates. They say SP2 is delayed by 9 days because some corporate networks and a few businesses are not ready for SP2 yet.

 

q1aqza - Alec's post #24 in this thread also mentions the boot slow-down you cited as significant.

nadirah - I've had SP2 available through Automatic Update since yesterday, and it's still there this morning. I wonder at what point in the process they were supposed to be delaying it...

 

I definitely noticed the same thing. I think it is due to several factors, one of the most significant is that right after SP2 install many of your system files are spread all over your harddrive and maybe even fragmented to a fairly significant extent. Remember, SP2 overwrites a very significant number of key system files because even if they haven't been recoded significantly, Microsoft has nevertheless recompiled many of them with new compiler options that prevent certain specific security risks like common stack overflow issues. So, you have all of the old system files, then SP2 sets up a temp install directory in which it unpacks everything, then it backs up and compresses the old system files, then it copies in the new system files, finally it deletes the temp unpack directory. It's a lot of disk rearranging. So first thing, try a simple defrag procedure, it should help some.

If a simple defrag doesn't help out much, then the next thing you may want to do is get a little more aggressive and use Microsoft's BootVis utilitiy. You will note that even though it is a Microsoft authored tool, you will no longer find it on Microsoft's site because apparently they don't think end-users should have access to this tool. Regardless of their wording, and even if the optimization routines are "built into Windows XP" and they do "run automatically at predetermined times", I still find it useful to be able to force an optimization to occur. If you have never used it before, the main things you can do are: 1) a "Trace" which does detailed analysis of the next reboot and the length of time for said reboot; and 2) an "Optimization" which will analyze the next reboot and then rearrange files on the disk for faster reading at boot time. Both options are under the "Trace" menubar header.

When I performed trace's on my SP2 system, I noticed that during boot the "IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service" would startup and then shutdown. It took a significant amount of time and I'm not sure why it did this since I had that service listed as "manual" in the services admin utility. This behavior seemed new to me with SP2. I don't burn a lot of CD-ROM's on this particular computer and I usually use third party software to do so in any case, so I just disabled this service altogether. It has seemed to help. I haven't tried burning a CD-ROM yet, though I don't think my 3rd party burning apps require this Microsoft supplied service, but I'm not absolutely sure. If they do, then I will just re-enable it and start it myself prior to use.

I have also set the "Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)" service to manual as opposed to automatic since I use a third party software firewall (ZoneAlarm). I set a few other unused services to manual as well, but many of the other choices depend on what you intend using your computer for, and what you don't mind living without. My boot times now seem comparable to pre-SP2.

HTH...

 

I defragged before the update but haven't checked the state since the install.

Ive read somewhere (maybe here or another forum) that you should shut down most of your main background apps, i.e. AV, FW, AT etc. before install. I didn't do this.

That bootvis app looks interesting, I'll give it a look over the weekend.

Since learning stuff from this site I am confident about my PC security without SP2 but I feel sorry for the "average home user" (sorry if this sounds patronising to anyone, it's not meant to be) who will get this update via auto update and may have problems without knowing how to undo it if it does cause big problems.

 

Ron........That is theeeeeee best thing I've read for a long time....if you wrote that Mate you have missed your vocation......Classic stuff.....Give us more........


Cochise,

 

Well take the credit anyway, you deserve it.......... .....There's nothing wrong with a bit of plagerism...........


Cochise,

 

...yep, we are.
(But there's nothing new; weren't we already (many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many many) times? ? ?

Since the d.o.b. of a certain B.G....