Re: [MLUG] XP XP2

[Herbert Wolverson <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Sat, Aug 07, 2004 at 11:59:42AM -0500, Brent Deterding wrote:
> Anyone have a reliable copy of XP SP2 to download? I'll trust it only from MS or
> someone here. 
> 
> I'll be a guinea pig - let me at it :)

I have the pre-release running on a couple of systems, with mixed results. On my
home system (Athlon XP 2600+, 1 gig RAM, pretty standard set of peripherals, boots
Windows once in a blue moon), it's solid as a rock. On my work machine (I got to be
the test-bed at work!), I've experienced some random slowdowns - particularly when
loading apps, and logging out. I also had to update my Radeon drivers, it was crashing
occasionally before I did - not sure why.

SP2 is pretty nice, though. It bugs the CRAP out of you if your antivirus software
gets out of date (it talks to just about every AV program I've ever used, including
the free edition of AVG). The firewall is on at initial boot, so the window for infection
while the TCP/IP stack loads is gone. The firewall itself is on a par with Zone Alarm, but
apparently without the really annoying performance hit I always noticed from it. It's
relatively easy to use (the usual "program X wants to do Y, allow it?") app firewall
messages, and an easy interface for allowing other ports to function. The new Windows
Update is quite nice. The enhancements to IE6 are absolutely worth it:
* ActiveX controls are basically prohibited unless you jump through some hoops.
* It's a lot harder to get tricked into running a program.
* MSHTML is a LOT stricter about executables, so any program that uses it (Outlook,
Outlook Express, various other mail programs, Quicken, etc.) are much harder to
exploit.
* The popup blocker is very solid.
* The 'remove IE plugin' option is worth its weight in dead Gators.

You can try it out for free from 
http://test.v5.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/V5consumer/Thanks.aspx?ThanksPage=6

Eek, I sound like an MS spokesperson. :-|

-- Herbert.
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