[Viper69]

I am debating if I should install it or not..what do people think..don't tell me it's great or it sucks..that doesn't help me make an informed opinion.

Second, any potential problems people are having with it as a general rule?

Last..how does one deactivate the built in Firewall???

[Grande Juan]

First do you want further winXP updates? Then install it. Regardless of what I think, it does address many security issues. Second I had no problems, I upgraded to sp2 when I reinstalled winxp. Third click on the security center icon then switch it on or off. You may read this http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=332946 also. [edit] for link.

[RP Racing]

I have it on my desktop. Havent put it on the laptop until I'm certain that it wont screw my wireless up. Pop-up blocker works great on it though.

[Osirus]

I have it on 1 desktop, and 5 laptops, all work flawlesly, I also run a full wireless network, and from start to finish, it didnt mess with my wireless one bit.

[woutertal]

I have it on my main rig and another XP rig in a LAN. No probs. It's great to slipstream SP2 onto yr install boot cd rom. No more updating needed when you reinstall XP or when you repair install.

[Redstone]

I had a similar question.

More info

[snafumaster]

I personally have installed it no less than 15 time on a variety of machines.

Install it.

Just do it with a little forethought.

Get rid of adware, defrag, run virus scans...all of that stuff should already have been done :wink: so just install it.

It does make a mess of your hard drive(fragmentation) so after, re-boot and then run defrag.

Some of the thing will be annoying at first. Most of these things, if you don't like them, can be turned off.

[Th0r]

Well, since when i installed it, my computer was slugish and everything, i went back to a fresh install of XP Corp with SP1a on it. And security concerns? I have none, i have a hardware firewall, Mozilla Firefox, Anti-Virus, and Anti-Spyware programs.

I have never been hit by the so called 'Blasterworm' which recked havoc on other computer systems. I have had no problems before. Well, i tell a lie, i opened up port 21 on my Router to my computer by accident, i got hacked within 2 minutes of me realising what i did. But it was a simple mistake.

[dguy6789]

99% of all people who use it have perfect success and much better security go for it. The people that have problems with it either dont have the latest drivers, mainboard bios, or already had problems in their pc. SP2 has shown pretty much 100% success rate on ppl who keep their pc clean and up to date.

[AZNBoiOnFIYA]

well, it fixes the jpeg bug in explorer but it screwed up my internet connection so now i have to find other ways to connect to the internet

[BudJB]

I think the update is huge. I had absolutely no confidence in IE6 because of the rampant spread of auto-installers that would not even prompt for permission, thus causing mass spread of adware/spyware. I've had tons of side jobs cleaning this crap up. Now IE effectively stops ANYTHING from auto-installing (even Microsoft's apps), unless you explicitely give it permission to install. It's got a built-in popup blocker too. I hate the built-in firewall and notifications, but all of the notifications can be turned off easily. This is great for the computer illiterate though, as the AV warnings and auto-update features should help keep computers clean.

I've actually worked on 2 PC's where SP2 royally screwed Windows and needed a format, but the PC's were in horrible shape to begin with and probably needed a clean start anyway. They also were both XP Home edition.

I think SP2 is a no-brainer for the IE updates alone, but that's just my $0.02.

[Grande Juan]

It does take some getting used to though, i.e. the security alert works so well that it will remind you every now and then, "No Antivirus software detected system at risk" even though Norton is running full tilt boogie. The firewall works a bit to good for my liking also, I have it disabled, my hardware firewall seems to work fine without XP assistence. The pop-up blocker seems to work very well also, to the point of making it difficult to download active-x controls that you may actually want.

[redduc900]

The security alert works so well that it will remind you every now and then, "No Antivirus software detected system at risk" even though Norton is running full tilt boogie

You can always disable the AV alert from within the Security Center...Start | Run | Type...wscui.cpl, and click OK.

[Daishiknyte]

I recently had to reinstall Windowsafter installing sp2 because of major major major system instability. Of course, it could from sp2 reacting to all the tweaks I have done. If you can hold off of sp2 untill you MUST have it.


Hope this helps.

[Grande Juan]

Ah yes I see it now under recommendations, check "I have an antivirus program. I'll monitor myself." Thanks for the tip.

[BudJB]

To the left of that windows it says something along the lines of "change how windows alerts me...". If you click there you can totally turn off the warnings for all three items.