Free Win XP SP2 CD

[jimmalenko]

I've got two machines at home on it with a minimum of issues. The annoyance is having to configure the security centre to the way you want it but apart from that, A-OK to me.

[d_unbeliever]

i've seen a keygen for SP2, i think those damn pirates are already using "legit" serial numbers

[jimmalenko]

I received a Beta SP2 at a Microsoft conference about 2 months before its official release and I seem to recall hearing that it didn't work on windows installs using the FCKGW key, amongst others, just like SP1.

[lightspeed]

No problems with SP2 here.

[fritzi93]

JohnnyCNote, thanks. Kinda surprising how quick and painless M$ made this. Filled out a short form and within 4 days, I got it in the mail. Why not, you have a copy then in case of having to format/reinstall or some such disaster? Let Microsoft foot the bill.

A cautionary note: Others have warned that SP2 can cause difficulties with apps that previously worked fine. That has been my experience as well, specifically, the only burning app that still works reliably for me is Nero. DVDDecrypter now locks up trying to burn ISOs, for example. Haven't had time to screw around with it, and it's probably only a temporary, minor annoyance. Reinstall of a couple progs or drivers will likely fix it. Nevertheless.....

[JohnnyCNote]

Shoot, I haven't gotten mine, yet. I could have used it, too.....

[winifreid]

adam, You said that MS offers free update CDs of older OSs. Where can I find them?
Thanks

[CoasterCreator]

mine will not install as mine had at different times versions of linux in a dual boot . the sp2 intall said failure to install due to a boot is not a windows ( something like that )

[KingSeti]

Just wanted to know if anyone else noticed this after doing the upgrade to SP2! After the install and you reboot the computer do you notice that the version of XP you are running is gone, it used to say under Windows either home or pro? Is it a possible bug or supposed to do this. Got the update cd's in at work and tried it on a display computer and noticed this!

I love trying stuff on another computer before putting it on mine

[Capmaster]

Just wanted to know if anyone else noticed this after doing the upgrade to SP2! After the install and you reboot the computer do you notice that the version of XP you are running is gone, it used to say under Windows either home or pro? Is it a possible bug or supposed to do this. Got the update cd's in at work and tried it on a display computer and noticed this!

I love trying stuff on another computer before putting it on mine

That's cheating

You sound like you've used Microsoft products before

[chobo321321]

Why would anyone want to install SP2? All it does is change some stuff with the firewall, IE, mess network connection limit, and screw up compatability with lots of software. Try firefox out for browsing it's very nice, and if you need a firewall I'm sure theres some cheap 3rd party ones, or just set your router up to block most ports.

Maybe I'm missing something, but why is everyone so crazy over this Service Pack?

[JohnnyCNote]

I've had no problems with it at all. If you don't want to install it you don't have to....

[Capmaster]

I resisted, but I finally gave in on one of our three XP machines at home. No problems so far. All SW seems to be running smoothly.

Funny (not so) coincidence. I installed SP2 about an hour before Videohelp went down last weekend. Being the realist that I am, I assumed it was the service pack because .....well ......

[mh2360]

Got my copy of SP2 thru the post today... took about 3 weeks. (Anything for nothing, thats my motto )

I love Freebies, anyone care to start a "get freebies here" thread?

[adam]

chobo321321

SP2 is a huge release. It fixes tons and tons of security holes. Its a lot more then just a new firewall and some settings changes.

My fears were unfounded. SP2 is running fine for me.

[Nilfennasion]

I've had a couple of applications stop working after applying SP2. Both of which were products that competed with Microsoft, and in one case kicked the MS product's bottom so badly that the MS product has never taken off. It's a good thing another competitor product worked. To be left without a graphics manipulation tool simply because MS can't get a foothold in that market (and understandably so) would really make me angry.

However, I'd rather have a convenient option to manage my own firewall settings rather than some annoying wizard that just sooks and sulks when I don't have the settings done the way it likes. When is it going to get through to Microsoft that by oversimplifying everything, they may have created something an idiot can use, but they've also created something only an idiot would actually want to use?

[jimmalenko]

Why would anyone want to install SP2? All it does is change some stuff with the firewall, IE, mess network connection limit, and screw up compatability with lots of software. Try firefox out for browsing it's very nice, and if you need a firewall I'm sure theres some cheap 3rd party ones, or just set your router up to block most ports.

Maybe I'm missing something, but why is everyone so crazy over this Service Pack?

Service Packs are Microsoft's way of fixing flaws in their software. Just like other companies release updates to their software, often with bug fixes and/or improved functionality. A lot of these flaws are/were unknown at the time of first release because they can only test to expose these flaws so much. Once a product gets out into the real world, so many more gifted people make it their number 1 aim to find and exploit any holes they can, just because they can. Given the reliance on Microsoft for both business and personal use, it is pretty important to the paying customer that they are not put at risk by any flaws that may be found/exploited, hence the need for Service Packs. The good thing is that everything is customisable, including turning off the annoying warnings about disabling the firewall or out of data virus definitions. Whether you're a Microsoft fan or not is beside the point. It is more about your own personal or your business's security.

I would assume by your statements that you have never updated your burning software to a later version, for example ? Or even better, virus definition files ? No different my friend.

[fritzi93]

Okay, an update: The only thing wrong was corrupt ASPI. Ran aspichk.exe, then reinstalled ASPI 4.60 and rebooted. No problem now, all burning apps functional again. I'm fairly sure SP2 tried to update my ASPI and it failed somehow, besides, only version 4.60 worked properly for me anyway. And Nero has its own drivers, etc., so no surprise there.

No other problem found, and I spent a few hours today trying to find some. :P

[vitualis]

I've had a couple of applications stop working after applying SP2. Both of which were products that competed with Microsoft, and in one case kicked the MS product's bottom so badly that the MS product has never taken off. It's a good thing another competitor product worked. To be left without a graphics manipulation tool simply because MS can't get a foothold in that market (and understandably so) would really make me angry.

And which applications are those?

Microsoft doesn't make a good graphics manipulation tool so they are hardly competing with anyone. And Photoshop which is probably the gold standard works just fine on SP2, as does MOST graphics software that I can think of.

Sorry but your anti-Microsoft comments border on the ridiculous. There are plenty of completely valid things that you can complain about regarding Microsoft but posting crap doesn't further your cause.

However, I'd rather have a convenient option to manage my own firewall settings rather than some annoying wizard that just sooks and sulks when I don't have the settings done the way it likes. When is it going to get through to Microsoft that by oversimplifying everything, they may have created something an idiot can use, but they've also created something only an idiot would actually want to use?

When is it going to get through to you that perhaps your general computer newbie out there doesn't know what a firewall is, would have no intention of ever installing one and even if they did, would probably promptly delete it because their home network "stopped working"? Microsoft's new firewall is unmitigating crap, but it is better than nothing and it is on by default. If you are serious about your internet security why are you using Windows Firewall anyway? Use a third party firewall and tell Windows that you want to manage your own firewall. The Windows Security module won't bother you ever again.

As for Windows Security "sulking", I for one am happy that it badgers newbies that they, e.g., don't have an antivirus proggy installed, or that their definitions are out of date, etc. I try to keep my PC safe and it almost never bothers ME.

So far, I have only encountered one serious problem with SP2. Nikon Capture 4 does not function with DEP. Unlike the Microsoft site which shows a nice "Your program doesn't work with DEP" dialogue and then directs you into disabling it for that program, on my PC, it instantly reboots. On the Nikonian's forum, other people have described the same thing. Using the exclusions on DEP for only Nikon Capture makes no difference either. I had to resort to turning off DEP altogether.

Regards.

[burnman99]

I think this is only good if you have XP already. It won't upgrade from like 98 or the like.

Rog

I don't think you'd have much luck trying to install Win XP SP2 on Win98, Rog.

Actually the Real Pay upgrade will let you upgrade from 2000 or ME or even 98 and maybe even 95! This is not that version. Of course upgrading Windows is risky business normally, a fresh install is normally better.

Rog

[letgoofmyears]

I currently do internet tech support for a somewhat large company, and I can tell you, without a doubt, that SP2 CAN cause problems. The most annoying I've seen, so far, has been its ability to disable your local area connection, thus disabling your high speed connection. Re-enabling the connection is sometimes only a temporary fix at best, because it can disable it again, sometimes instantly.

I'm not exactly sure why it does this, but my advice to our customers with dsl is to uninstall SP2, get up and running again, then check M$ website for assistance. There is also a free number, 1-888-SP2-HELP, that you can call if you're having problems.

Now, I say that SP2 CAN cause problems, because I've had it installed almost since day one, and I havent had any problems with it.

Also, what was said about earlier about Norton is ABSOLUTELY true. If a customer calls in with any sort of problem, from not getting/sending email, to not getting any web pages, the first thing I do is have them disable Norton, or, if it refuses (which happens a LOT), then uninstall it all together. My life would be so much easir if Norton had a product that worked.

Just my two cents.

[LDinOR]

Terrific! Thanks for the link JohnnyC.

[Nilfennasion]

When is it going to get through to you that perhaps your general computer newbie out there doesn't know what a firewall is, would have no intention of ever installing one and even if they did, would probably promptly delete it because their home network "stopped working"?

When are numbskulls like you going to realise that Microsoft's insistence on babying the user to the point where even experienced ones can't easily manipulate the settings they need is far more dangerous to data security than simply not having a firewall? Seriously, the insistence on abusing me for preferring times when people were required to gain some insight into what the results of what seemingly innocent actions could be is beyond the pathetic. I'm starting to wonder if there is a single person in any of these Microsoft über alles threads who has used a computer for more than two years.

[jimmalenko]

When are numbskulls like you going to realise that Microsoft's insistence on babying the user to the point where even experienced ones can't easily manipulate the settings they need is far more dangerous to data security than simply not having a firewall?

I can feel a pissing contest coming up....



3 checkboxes. Difficult ?

@letgoofmyears:
With that LAN disconnection issue, is that to do with windows firewall and allowing HTTP ?

[vitualis]

Thank you.

I've used PCs since 8086 days so I find your comments somewhat strange. Windows Firewall and the new Windows Security Centre are a hell of a lot better than the nothingness in pre-SP2. The new security module is simplistic and it is designed to be. The idea is that it is instantly accesible to new computer users with the most obvious settings being "on" or "off" (and if you turn it off, it scares you into turning it back on again).

As for "experienced users"???

It took me no longer than 10 seconds to change the Windows Security settings to what I wanted the first time I installed SP2. That is, "off" for firewall, "alert me" for automatic upgrades and "on" for monitoring AV (if anything, it's handy for telling me when an AVG update is available). The only concern I have is that the settings are too easy to change to "off" for the anti-Microsoft paranoid neophyte and thus rendering it useless.

I have to conclude that you don't know what you are talking about.

And what are these two programs that don't work with SP2? What image manipulation program is being destroyed by MS evil anticompetitive SP2?

Regards.

[Gritz]

I can say that SP2 broke my Dell 2.4 GHz laptop with 256 MB of memory. Everything came to a grinding halt, my MemoriesOnTV DVDs stuttered and stammered ... the sound was screwed up, and my apps (like StreeAtlas 2004) almost would not load. So for me ... it was a total flop and I uninstalled it. Everything is fine now. Also I have questions about DRM .... is it going to tell me I don't own this music so I can't play it?? This is a little murky to me. So I'll let others be the guinea pigs.

[D.A.R.J.R.]

Got my cd about 2 weeks ago, installed it, changed some settings and everything is running good. I think sp2 even made my computer a bit faster.

[vitualis]

SP2 isn't an update like SP1... It is an overhaul of the OS with many default settings changed and Windows components recompiled. There is a much stronger focus on security (though still weak, it is better than SP1). I think that there are enough improvements to it that it is definitely worth installing... with a fresh reinstallation of the computer if necessary.

Regards.

[Capmaster]

We have some 10,000 employees where I work, and slightly more than 10,000 PCs (some employees have none, many have 2) all networked. Yesterday the PC support girl came to install Project on my desktop and I asked her of they're going to be approving SP2 anytime soon. She said "No, it's still too buggy. The incompatibilities are amazing"

I'm running it at home with no trouble, but I don't have the password authentication and network compatibility issues we have at work either.

Seems like it still needs work

[jimmalenko]

We have some 10,000 employees where I work, and slightly more than 10,000 PCs (some employees have none, many have 2) all networked. Yesterday the PC support girl came to install Project on my desktop and I asked her of they're going to be approving SP2 anytime soon. She said "No, it's still too buggy. The incompatibilities are amazing"

I'm running it at home with no trouble, but I don't have the password authentication and network compatibility issues we have at work either.

Interesting. We've got roughly 100 workstations and they're all running SP2 without any issues. It should be known though that we pretty much only run Office 2003 and a couple of proprietary programs specific to the banking industry. Just lucky I guess

Being as small as we are, myself and the other two IT guys decided to use our own workstations as guinea pigs with the Beta version I mentioned previously in this thread. That all went OK so we deployed the standard release on the same 3 machines, again without an issue. So we took the plunge and did the lot over the next few days after that.