Although XP's Service Pack 2 has been around since last August, system administrators have been unenthusiastic about its deployment. Fewer than 25 percent of enterprise PCs running XP have been upgraded to SP2.
That's not surprising: although SP2 introduces a number of important and overdue features to Windows, it has a reputation for stopping things from working. By some measures, up to 70 percent of existing enterprise network applications have problems when untweaked SP2 is applied. Nobody wants that pain.
Yet given that the original mess is largely of its own making, Microsoft has been behaving with pragmatic good sense in cleaning things up. During the wilderness years of Windows security, much software was written that of necessity assumed an open system. By introducing much-needed security in stages, Microsoft has given system administrators time to learn how to work in the new environment.
That time is running out. As of 12 April, Microsoft's deferment option — where admins could take advantage of an option blocking the automatic download of the software pack — expires and SP2 will become an almost-compulsory update for XP installations. You can put it off even longer by assuming responsibility for deploying all updates and patches via a local server, but — unless you have critical reasons for further delay — now is a very good time to go with the flow.
Last month would have been better. Microsoft recommends, and we concur, that you roll out SP2 on a representative sample of clients first, taking the opportunity to fine-tune the group policies needed to avoid machine-by-machine configuration. There is copious online help available, although you will need to take care about clear demarcation between domains. Third party tools are available, but probably not necessary.
Bite the bullet. There are genuine concerns about Microsoft forcing updates for revenue reasons, but not in this case. The framework in SP2 is going to provide the basis for client, server and application security for the foreseeable future. It cannot be put off forever.
Talkback
XP is Windows 98 in disguise. A buggy blue screen of death piece of garbage.
Why did MSFT drop Windows 2000 ? You can't even buy a computer that comes with it anymore.
I used to get, get, get with MS updates and free apps. But now things have changed, things like Mozilla which I rely on and PowerDVD instead of WMP.
I have heard so much anti-fuss about SP2 and have delayed it all this time, knowing how much it would take to gather, sort and backup my files. Now its being forced upon me, I'm okay with that it's a good thing but I have been dreading the cleanup.
I wonder when I restore my files how many little anoying things will pop-up.
Perhaps Redmond has forgotten how a normal Windows administrator week looks like. There's little time left to just deploy SP2 here and there and deal with any negative aftermath right there and then. Perhaps one reason why SP 2 hasn't be deployed yet on a mass scale in the first place.
I have been installing SP2 on many different machines for some time now in both business and home environments and have not experienced any problems. I think the scare stories have put people off but really in most cases there is nothing to worry about. The benefits far outweigh the possibility of something going wrong.
I too have installed SP2 on many computers, generally trouble free.
I experienced two problems which were simply cured - when I found the solution. The problem was finding the solution.
The first was in incompatibility with a certain group of Intel processors for which there was a patch, if I had known and if I had known what the problem was before starting. However, I have to say that this was a serious problem because the upgraded installation would not boot (BSOD), not even in safe mode, so I could not even go back to apply the patch. I made several abortive attempts to reinstall from scratch without success before eventually finding out what the problem might be.
The second was an irritation in that the status bar in Windows Explorer wouldn't stick. I found the solution by comparing the registry with the registry of a machine which did not exhibit the problem. Of course, that took some time, but I published the 'cure' on the internet to help others since this appeared to be a common problem.
I also have the SP2 and i thought it was alright etc until it updated itself and then informed me, the next time i turned on the computer, that I had it had changed all sorts of file paths for all my files etc. and to cure this i had to insert a disk....which uhhh problem i did not have!!! and so therefore my computer would not run without crashing literally every app!! so therefore to fix this the only solution i could find was a system restore and then blocking the SP2 pack from downloading any further updates!