Can You Live with Windows XP SP2?
By Michael J. Miller
August 25, 2004
Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Microsoft Windows XP is expected to start showing up on many more desktops today (Wednesday 8/25), as Microsoft starts to deliver it to XP Professional users who have automatic updates turned on, as well as via Windows Update.
The service pack is notable mostly for a variety of new security features, including fixes to many known problems, a new version of the Windows Firewall that is turned on by default, and a new security center. You can read all about these features in our full Windows XP SP2 report. Instead, I want to focus on what it's like living with the final version of SP2, on the other new features, and on the controversy over some of these security features.
People who were beta-testing SP2, members of Microsoft TechNet, home users with automatic updates on, and many corporate customers have been able to get SP2 for a couple of weeks now, and many of us at PC Magazine have been running this version. Along the way, we've fielded a lot of questions from Windows users.
By Michael J. Miller
August 25, 2004
Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Microsoft Windows XP is expected to start showing up on many more desktops today (Wednesday 8/25), as Microsoft starts to deliver it to XP Professional users who have automatic updates turned on, as well as via Windows Update.
The service pack is notable mostly for a variety of new security features, including fixes to many known problems, a new version of the Windows Firewall that is turned on by default, and a new security center. You can read all about these features in our full Windows XP SP2 report. Instead, I want to focus on what it's like living with the final version of SP2, on the other new features, and on the controversy over some of these security features.
People who were beta-testing SP2, members of Microsoft TechNet, home users with automatic updates on, and many corporate customers have been able to get SP2 for a couple of weeks now, and many of us at PC Magazine have been running this version. Along the way, we've fielded a lot of questions from Windows users.