Windows XP - Upgrade to SP 2

[Robert Lightburn]

Has anyone had experience with this upgrade? Any problems? Is upgrade
worthwhile? TIA for any information.

Bob Lightburn
Point Pleasant Beach, NJ

[Joe Makowiec]

On 25 Sep 2004 in soc.genealogy.computing, Robert Lightburn wrote:

Has anyone had experience with this upgrade? Any problems? Is upgrade
worthwhile?

Yes/No/Maybe

If you're running IE and haven't patched to the latest version, and/or
you're running a high speed internet connection without some other form
of protection, it's probably worthwhile. By 'form of protection', I mean
a router/switch of the kind commonly sold for around US$50 which go
between your cable or DSL modem and your computer.

On the other hand, if you're not doing any of the above, you may want to
consider the wisdom of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'.

For What It's Worth, I haven't installed it on my home machines; at work,
I installed it on two of four XP Pro boxes and shut off the firewall and
all the alerts. I haven't had any problems.

--
Joe Makowiec
http://makowiec.org/
Email: http://makowiec.org/contact/?Joe

[Lesley Robertson]

"Robert Lightburn" <[email protected]> schreef in bericht
news:[email protected]...

Has anyone had experience with this upgrade? Any problems? Is upgrade
worthwhile? TIA for any information.

I've installed it on my office pc and laptop, both of which also have Norton

AV, and have had no trouble at all - which was the point of the
modifications, I thought. Those machine have the english-speaking version of
XP. My home pc has a dutch version of XP, and hasn't been invited to upgrade
yet.
It took a while to download, and a long time to install.. get the cd if you
don't have broadband.
Lesley Robertson

[Gjest]

"Robert Lightburn" <[email protected]> wrote

Has anyone had experience with this upgrade? Any problems? Is upgrade
worthwhile? TIA for any information.

I've installed it on my home system with no problems. You do need
broadband if you want to download the new version, and it took about half an
hour to install. I'm also running Norton Security, so switched off the
Windows firewall and anti-virus software.

Barbara

[Evert]

I've installed SP2 on two computers one has XP Prof. and the other XP Home
edition (both Dutch versions of XP).
Norton Antivirus 2004 and Firewall Norton Internet Security running without
problems after the upgrade to SP2.
All other applications also running without problems.
Evert van Dijken

"Lesley Robertson" <[email protected]> schreef in bericht
news:[email protected]...

"Robert Lightburn" <[email protected]> schreef in bericht
news:[email protected]...
Has anyone had experience with this upgrade? Any problems? Is upgrade
worthwhile? TIA for any information.

I've installed it on my office pc and laptop, both of which also have
Norton
AV, and have had no trouble at all - which was the point of the
modifications, I thought. Those machine have the english-speaking version
of
XP. My home pc has a dutch version of XP, and hasn't been invited to
upgrade
yet.
It took a while to download, and a long time to install.. get the cd if
you
don't have broadband.
Lesley Robertson

[Lesley Robertson]

"Lesley Robertson" <[email protected]> schreef in bericht
news:[email protected]...

"Robert Lightburn" <[email protected]> schreef in bericht
news:[email protected]...
Has anyone had experience with this upgrade? Any problems? Is upgrade
worthwhile? TIA for any information.

I've installed it on my office pc and laptop, both of which also have
Norton
AV, and have had no trouble at all - which was the point of the
modifications, I thought. Those machine have the english-speaking version
of
XP. My home pc has a dutch version of XP, and hasn't been invited to
upgrade
yet.
It took a while to download, and a long time to install.. get the cd if
you
don't have broadband.
Lesley Robertson

Microsoft must read this group - I was about to shut the machine down when

the "Updates available" message came up. SP2 is now on my home pc (although
it took 2 attempts to get it correctly installed (don't ask me why, I just
push the buttons) - everything working fine.
Lesley Robertson

[Corse]

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
"Robert Lightburn" <[email protected]> wrote

Has anyone had experience with this upgrade? Any problems? Is upgrade
worthwhile? TIA for any information.

I've installed it on my home system with no problems. You do need
broadband if you want to download the new version, and it took about half an
hour to install. I'm also running Norton Security, so switched off the
Windows firewall and anti-virus software.

Barbara

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

SP 2 doesn't have any anti-virus software to turn off.

I installed it on my Dell with no problem. I'm still using Zone Alarm,
Ad-aware and AVG 6.0 (all freebies) though since SP 2 doesn't really provide
any protection. In fact, I'm not clear at all what it does but I've got it.


Corse

[Lockon]

On Sat, 25 Sep 2004 16:35:34 GMT, "Robert Lightburn"
<[email protected]> wrote:

Has anyone had experience with this upgrade? Any problems? Is upgrade
worthwhile? TIA for any information.

Bob Lightburn
Point Pleasant Beach, NJ
Hi - I went for it as it means you have all the latest security

patches and updates rolled into one. I slipstreamed the SP2 update
into XP Pro. This page tells you how to if I'm speaking G(r)eek!
http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd.htm
it's easy to do.

Took the opportunity to do a complete clean reinstall as it is good to
do this from now and again to get rid of the detritus that accumulates
over time. But be aware that it needs half a day to load and then
reinstall all your software again (if you have got as much as I
have!). Remember to make backups of all the things you want to keep to
a separate partition or burn to disk. I would make sure you have the
latest updates for all your software available - if there is any
particular software you cannot live without do a Google search to see
if there are issues or check the manufactuirer's website and forum.

The reinstallation was completely painless, all my hardware was
recognised and all drivers work without a hitch. One program was
broken (DivX) but they have since released an update that is fine.
Very pleased with it so far - using Kaspersky antivirus
http://www.kaspersky.co.uk/ and Kerio firewall
http://www.kerio.com/kpf_home.html and to date it has been totally
bomb proof security wise. The only difference you will see is that the
security centre is switched on by default but as I use third party s/w
I turned it off. Other security programs I would recommend are Spyware
Guard and Spywareblaster(free) from
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/products.html - so far Adaware and
Spybot have not setected any spyware on my system using these.

Worthwhile? Only you can decide, but I like it as it functions
reliably and more importantly unobtrusively and lets you get on with
what you want to do!

HTH
Regards Lock

[Pam]

I upgraded to SP2 but turned off the Windows firewall since I use ZoneAlarm
and have been satisfied with that. I have a DSL line and ever since
installing SP2 whenever I'm away from my computer for more than an hour
(which I do frequently throughout the day) I cannot get my mail through
Eudora or use Internet Explorer unless I reboot (which is VERY annoying
since it's usually when I want to check something real quick). I can use
Outlook Express okay but not the others which makes no sense to me. It's
enough to make me want to uninstall SP2 but I've heard some horror stories
about that so I'm hesitant. I just wish I could figure out why my IE and
Eudora stop working.
--
Pam
http://www.pamsgenealogy.net

"Lockon" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

On Sat, 25 Sep 2004 16:35:34 GMT, "Robert Lightburn"
[email protected]> wrote:

Has anyone had experience with this upgrade? Any problems? Is upgrade
worthwhile? TIA for any information.

Bob Lightburn
Point Pleasant Beach, NJ
Hi - I went for it as it means you have all the latest security
patches and updates rolled into one. I slipstreamed the SP2 update
into XP Pro. This page tells you how to if I'm speaking G(r)eek!
http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd.htm
it's easy to do.

Worthwhile? Only you can decide, but I like it as it functions
reliably and more importantly unobtrusively and lets you get on with
what you want to do!

[Lockon]

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 08:20:15 -0400, "Pam" <[email protected]> wrote:

I upgraded to SP2 but turned off the Windows firewall since I use ZoneAlarm
and have been satisfied with that. I have a DSL line and ever since
installing SP2 whenever I'm away from my computer for more than an hour
(which I do frequently throughout the day) I cannot get my mail through
Eudora or use Internet Explorer unless I reboot (which is VERY annoying
since it's usually when I want to check something real quick). I can use
Outlook Express okay but not the others which makes no sense to me. It's
enough to make me want to uninstall SP2 but I've heard some horror stories
about that so I'm hesitant. I just wish I could figure out why my IE and
Eudora stop working.

Hi Pam,

Hard luck - a quick Google search shows this:
http://carbteam.umbi.umd.edu/node/view/59
I don't suppose they will be long releasing a version that is
compatible. That said I gave up using Eudora years ago and Outlook
Express is good enough these days and does everything for me. Strange
that IE should stop working as I too have DSL and mine does not
exhibit the same symptom. I am suspicious that perhaps you get kicked
off beause your connection is inactive and I would look carefully
through the internet settings to be sure there is nothing there that
could account for it. There are two settings that say disconnect if
idle or disconnect if connection may no longer be needed in the
options so check those aren't enabled.

I presume you have contacted your ISP's helpdesk - they may have some
ideas as they spend all day sorting peoples' problems and may have
come across yours before - worth a try!
Good Luck.
Regds Lock

[Patscga]

Has anyone had experience with this upgrade? Any problems? Is upgrade
worthwhile? T

I downloaded it and had all sorts of problems so I restored to a prior date.
Pat

[Don Kirkman]

It seems to me I heard somewhere that Pam wrote in article
<[email protected]>:

I upgraded to SP2 but turned off the Windows firewall since I use ZoneAlarm
and have been satisfied with that. I have a DSL line and ever since
installing SP2 whenever I'm away from my computer for more than an hour
(which I do frequently throughout the day) I cannot get my mail through
Eudora or use Internet Explorer unless I reboot (which is VERY annoying
since it's usually when I want to check something real quick). I can use
Outlook Express okay but not the others which makes no sense to me. It's
enough to make me want to uninstall SP2 but I've heard some horror stories
about that so I'm hesitant. I just wish I could figure out why my IE and
Eudora stop working.

Upgrading to SP2 cured a slight instability on my old system under
Win98SE and later XP SP1, though some out of date drivers had to be
upgraded as well.

Zone Alarm users who also do binaries need to be aware that ZA 5.1
breaks binaries encoded in yEnc. Reverting to 5.0 or earlier solves the
problem until ZA gets a right fix out.
--
Don
A KIRKMAN Tree: home.covad.net/~donkirk/gen/index.html
Updated March 1, 2003 - added a number of individuals and sources

[Pam]

Lock,

I found that even though I had turned off the Windows Firewall, in the
advanced screen there were two things still checked. So I unchecked those
and will wait to see if that helps. I really like Eudora since I subscribe
to several very active mailing lists and get them in digest form. Outlook
Express views the digest as a series of attachments which I find annoying.
I'd rather see it in one large email which is the way it comes through on
Eudora.

Thanks for your help.

--
Pam
http://www.pamsgenealogy.net

"Lockon" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

Hard luck - a quick Google search shows this:
http://carbteam.umbi.umd.edu/node/view/59
I don't suppose they will be long releasing a version that is
compatible. That said I gave up using Eudora years ago and Outlook
Express is good enough these days and does everything for me. Strange
that IE should stop working as I too have DSL and mine does not
exhibit the same symptom. I am suspicious that perhaps you get kicked
off beause your connection is inactive and I would look carefully
through the internet settings to be sure there is nothing there that
could account for it. There are two settings that say disconnect if
idle or disconnect if connection may no longer be needed in the
options so check those aren't enabled.

[Dave Hinz]

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 17:52:09 -0400, Pam <[email protected]> wrote:

Lock,

I found that even though I had turned off the Windows Firewall, in the
advanced screen there were two things still checked. So I unchecked those
and will wait to see if that helps.

What did you uncheck? Some of those ports are blocked for very good
reasons...

[Pam]

I unchecked the boxes for 1394 Connection and Local Area Connection. I do
still have Zone Alarm running. Haven't had a chance to test this to see if
it solves my problem yet. Would ZA be sufficient protection or are these
settings really important? I had no problems before going to SP2.

--
Pam
http://www.pamsgenealogy.net

"Dave Hinz" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 17:52:09 -0400, Pam <[email protected]> wrote:
Lock,

I found that even though I had turned off the Windows Firewall, in the
advanced screen there were two things still checked. So I unchecked those
and will wait to see if that helps.

What did you uncheck? Some of those ports are blocked for very good
reasons...

[Dave Hinz]

On Wed, 29 Sep 2004 05:48:36 -0400, Pam <[email protected]> wrote:

I unchecked the boxes for 1394 Connection

Firewire, OK,

and Local Area Connection. I do
still have Zone Alarm running. Haven't had a chance to test this to see if
it solves my problem yet. Would ZA be sufficient protection or are these
settings really important? I had no problems before going to SP2.

I trust ZA more than I trust microsoft, so that seems reasonable.

[Lockon]

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 17:52:09 -0400, "Pam" <[email protected]> wrote:

Lock,

I found that even though I had turned off the Windows Firewall, in the
advanced screen there were two things still checked. So I unchecked those
and will wait to see if that helps. I really like Eudora since I subscribe
to several very active mailing lists and get them in digest form. Outlook
Express views the digest as a series of attachments which I find annoying.
I'd rather see it in one large email which is the way it comes through on
Eudora.
Thanks for your help.

It's an exercise in frustration I know trying to sort these irritating
glitches that mar the smooth running of things!
I assume you found this page?
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/c ... er/faq.jsp

and their forums have posts from users experiencing problems with Zone
Alarm - e.g this one
http://forums.zonelabs.org/zonelabs/boa ... 166#M18166

Again ZA is a program I stopped using a while back when it was too
buggy on my machine - tried one or two others (Norton's etc) and
finally settled on Kerio which seems very stable, does not chew up
system resources and has a nice GUI which makes it easy to configure.
http://www.kerio.com/kpf_home.html

Coming back to my original suggestion -
Open IE then go to the
Tools menu > Internet Options > Connections > Settings > Advanced
now check that the boxes here are not ticked for' Disconnect if idle'
or 'Disconnect when connection may no longer be needed'

Also
Tools > Internet Options > Connections > Settings > Properties >
Options - now check that 'idle time before hanging up' is set to
never.

Good luck.
Regds Lock

[Pam]

"Lockon" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 17:52:09 -0400, "Pam" <[email protected]> wrote:

Coming back to my original suggestion -
Open IE then go to the
Tools menu > Internet Options > Connections > Settings > Advanced
now check that the boxes here are not ticked for' Disconnect if idle'
or 'Disconnect when connection may no longer be needed'

Also
Tools > Internet Options > Connections > Settings > Properties
Options - now check that 'idle time before hanging up' is set to
never.

When I go to the Connections menu the Settings is grayed out so I can't get
to either one of those.

I'm upgrading ZA to see if that helps. I did turn it off and keep only the
Windows Firewall on and my problem went away so it's definitely something
w/ZoneAlarm. And as Dave mentioned, I also trust that much more than the
Windows Firewall, so I'll try to see if I can get that working. If not, I
may check out Kerio. Thanks for the help.

--
Pam
http://www.pamsgenealogy.net

Good luck.
Regds Lock