Thursday, September 09, 2004
We reported on SP2 issues in the last Tech Alert. We noted that some users, especially those with special software, need to thoroughly test their systems before installing SP2 on an enterprise wide basis.
Microsoft had provided a patch that would tweak the registry of individual computers so that critical updates would be installed automatically, yet the whole if SP2 would be delayed 120 days. This would keep those PCs in a secure status with the auto-update feature and provide time to test your systems before SP2 went into auto-download mode.
Microsoft has now doubled this time delay to 240 days. This means you now have until April 12, 2005. Remember though, many of the repairs in SP2 are necessary. You should not delay implementation just because there is more time. You may simply do so now in a more thorough and cost effective manner.
Microsoft had provided a patch that would tweak the registry of individual computers so that critical updates would be installed automatically, yet the whole if SP2 would be delayed 120 days. This would keep those PCs in a secure status with the auto-update feature and provide time to test your systems before SP2 went into auto-download mode.
Microsoft has now doubled this time delay to 240 days. This means you now have until April 12, 2005. Remember though, many of the repairs in SP2 are necessary. You should not delay implementation just because there is more time. You may simply do so now in a more thorough and cost effective manner.
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
I thought this may be an appropriate place to share my experiences with my fellow BOL'ers on Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. While some of you may be doing your own updates at work, you certainly will be doing them at home where your bank's tech support doesn't reach.
I have installed SP2 on two of my XP Home systems and on one XP Pro system. Only in the case of one XP Home did I have any issues. This was on the box that acts as my LAN server. On the restart, it froze. I did a hard reboot and it came back up fine and is working like a champ. In two of three cases the firewall built into XP recognized that ZoneAlarm was already there and defaulted to "off". The new default for this is "on" if you do not already have a firewall in place. In the third case, my server, I had to tell it a second time to be "off". I also had to reset my Linksys router as the wireless signal worked fine, but the two hardwired boxes were not getting a signal the next day. That was as easy as pushing a button.
All in all things have gone great with my slow but sure updates. Recognize that a few folks have had problems with the SP 2 upgrade. Be sure to review our Tech Alert for a list of programs known to have issues. Good luck.
I have installed SP2 on two of my XP Home systems and on one XP Pro system. Only in the case of one XP Home did I have any issues. This was on the box that acts as my LAN server. On the restart, it froze. I did a hard reboot and it came back up fine and is working like a champ. In two of three cases the firewall built into XP recognized that ZoneAlarm was already there and defaulted to "off". The new default for this is "on" if you do not already have a firewall in place. In the third case, my server, I had to tell it a second time to be "off". I also had to reset my Linksys router as the wireless signal worked fine, but the two hardwired boxes were not getting a signal the next day. That was as easy as pushing a button.
All in all things have gone great with my slow but sure updates. Recognize that a few folks have had problems with the SP 2 upgrade. Be sure to review our Tech Alert for a list of programs known to have issues. Good luck.
