The upcoming Microsoft release of SP2. Warning warning danger danger.
Service Pack 2 will be released soon by Microsoft as a major security upgrade to the current easy-to-attack, Windows XP.
True, SP2 has some good features like stopping popups, examining website code for viruses and attacks, and letting you see and disable browser add-ons. But, these utilities will argue with any current utilities you might have installed that perform these same tasks.
It gets worse. When you install this monster, it reconfigures your existing networks so file and print sharing are off. It also installs a software firewall that may block your access to the Internet. SP2 does all this without asking, and you can’t tell it not to.
In other words, after you install it, your network will not function. Microsoft is advising that SP2 installations be done by pros who know what they are doing, something which leaves the ordinary user lost in the wilderness. Techs like myself will make good money reviving networks killed by SP2 – but Microsoft is just asking for a disaster, plus what about all the home users and small to medium sized businesses that will have dead networks and not know what to do? (Large businesses have IT departments to handle this.)
Oh yes, SP2 is currently a whopping 270 mb. Microsoft hopes to reduce that to a dainty 90 mb. translation: Don’t even think of downloading it with a dial-up, it would literally take days to do so.
Microsoft is saying this new version will protect against the current attacks for … about 30 days … and then attacks aimed directly at SP2 will start. How reassuring.