Great move from microsoft, but still, it's not like it was completely "impossible" to get service pack 1 and any other update before when it wasn't for "everyone".

Other than security-related upgrades, SP2 also introduces a much-awaited anti-pop-up ad feature, and is integrated with the Internet Explorer Web browser to allow users to stop pop-ups that the user did not explicitly request.



Hmm.. no more Google Toolbar?

Big Deal

I can't believe people praise microsoft for something like this. For a company developing software for as long as they have and dominating the operating system arena for so many years, they never gave two left testicles about security. They only do know because it is a hot topic and they are being pressured. Wooo, a huge service pack; I sure look forward to that "pop-up blocker" and that updated microsoft firewall (isnt that an oxymoron?: microsoft firewall).

I am not a microsoft basher nor am I here trolling to start any flames. I think microsoft is an irresponsible company and putting their customers through the process of downloading a huge service pack to make up for their incomplete product is nothing they should be commended for.

Because of the mono-culture that exists in the operating systems and office suites arena, whenever these vulnerabilties are exploited, we are all affected at a massive scale. This is not good for business and it is not good for national security. When you see something as dumb as a raw sockets implementation made available to non-administrative users in an xp environment you know right then and there we are headed for disaster. I too user windows xp don't get me wrong; but just because I know how to secure my environment doesn't mean others do.

The good thing about all this is that companies and home users are starting to see what microsoft is all about and are starting to look elsewere for answers to their problems: Linux.

In the meantime, stop using outlook and keep your definitions up to date.

L8r

:grinthumb :grinthumb

Two SP's in just over a year?????

Get rid of ***** Exploiter and you won't need any SP's!

No outlook + Opera browser make me a virus free and popup free happy user

Not to start an entire conversation here, but Firefox, Opera, etc.. you name it. Are lacking in too many areas. I've tried them all and I went right back to IE. IE does exactly what I want it to and I have no problems with it.

Security is the responsibility of the user too. If your not doing what you should be doing then, yes your going to end up getting a virus or have some sort of security issue sooner or later. If you know what your doing, you'll most likely almost never have a problem.

Stop blaming Microsoft for everything. If your having problems. The blame 99% most likely lies on one person. You.

I wonder what are the "many areas" you find lacking.. I can think of only one and it is caused by web designers not making pages compilant with standards.

I know it is my responsibility to not visit sites/open files that exploit IE vulnerabilities and go to places that happily install spyware on my machine without IE asking anything about it (and my security settings are right where they should). But it's just that I have more interests than browsing Yahoo! and reading Hotmail and occasionally I stumble upon a bad link.

The inevitable flame aside..

I guess MS just hired someone who could add 2 and 2 together and realised that any security features put into SP2 would cost more than they would ever get from the few illegal XP users who would run to buy a legit version for SP2.

I am running the SP2 release candidate and at this stage the new IE security is very basic, inconvenient and feature-lacking. And I swear my machine is running slower. And the new security center thing is a joke although I suppose it could introduce a clueless user to new concepts like "antivirus" or "firewall".

well, the security concious paranoid type might find IE to be lacking.

At least with Mozzila you can view how a web page is constructed before you open it.

Maybe IE isn't your thing, but personally, I feel that if you really searced the multitude of browsers out there, you'd find something better, and probably free.

If I could, I would remove IE from the system and use something else. I can't so I use something else, and return to IE generally only to see what other people see, or for IE only pages.

Yes, I strongly agree Acid. I think IE is best overall. I use IE and have no virus's etc, its the users responsibility.

I also find IE to be the best..use it all the time...no viruses...

lol. ok, that lat post I made sounded way harsher than intended. I also use IE after I've just re-installed my system and I'm sick of working on it lol. In terms of functioanlity, it,s ok I suppose, but it could be better.

My problem with it stems from both holes, and the fact that it is a shell.

I'm the sort of person who likes to be able to leave my PC on while leaving on holiday for a week, so I can remotely connect to it if I want to. I don't want to have to worry about whether some ***** has written a worm, or whether some cracker finds an IE exploit and want's credit card details and the like. I do have a firewall, but hey, sometimes things can fail when you least expect them too, and that's when you are most likely to get hit by something nasty.

Having used IE for a while i found it really hard to try and like using other browzers. I have recently started using Firefox (latest trunk - i update when ever i feel like it) and other than a few REALLY annoying bugs (the box i am typing no now is FAR to thin for the the window for some reason) it it much nicer to use than IE. A bit of tweaking and a plugin or two make it a much more streamlined browzer - even if it is less polished.
Having experianced and got used to tabbed browzing with no pop ups I CANNOT go back to IE - it is just to big and chunky. The only time I still have to use IE is links from messenger (its doesnt use the default browzer - it just uses IE) and the Fileplanet download system which wont work on anything but IE

Releasing SP2 to the masses is a good idea in theory, with the idea of stopping viruses, legal XP or no, but it does remove the one last remaining reason to buy a legal copy of windows......

Just my $0.02

Steg

I have a periodic fondness for Avant browser.

Well MY two cents is that if M/S are expecting people to pay a fair whack of dosh out for a system such as XP, the purchasers of said system should be able to expect it to be pretty hole free.... how many updates has XP had since it's launch?

Perhaps it would be worth MS employing a couple of these bods who find holes in various components of it's operating systems, and exploit them simply because they can, to work for them................

Anyway, I shall stick to my fairly reasonable, tho much patched copy of W2K. We like each other most of the time.

Agreed

Steg

Long may it reign!!