Should you be in huge rush to get it (and are on broadband), you can get the large (266MB) version of it here:
www.microsoft.com

Of course if you are patient, it'll slowly trickle up onto windowsupdate.microsoft.com, offering the express version which downloads only what you need.

This service pack aims to close up all the holes in it's OS. You don't need SP1 to install this. Along with automatically applying all the patches that have been released so far (for Blaster, Sasser etc...), it also resets the default settings that many people leave unaltered, which may constitute a security risk.

A new Security Centre is available now too, which controls the newly beefed up firewall, so that only authorised programs may access the net. All together I hear that there are over 400 settings to tick on & off!

New features include better wireless support, badly needed pop-up blocker, and loadsa warning stuff (ooh, you don't want to download that...., nor that, and that's a dodgy page...). The notorious Outlook Express is supposedly tightened up security wise, but hopefully not like the full version after it's own SP2 (sending an email to a mailing list required you to click ok for every address in the list - madness!).

The big question: is it worth it? I've been surfing around & can not find too many people with issues, but only time will tell. The beta editinos went down quite well, but when the masses update, only then will we see how good it is.

I myself have tried downloading it 5 times with no success! I think I'm behind a funny corporate firewall thingy that's corrupting it. For those trying sources other than Microsoft's website, the md5 checksum (I'm reliabely informed) is:
59a98f181fe383907e520a391d75b5a7

If I get it installed, I'll post up again saying how I find it.
GF

Well finally got around the firewall and 25 minutes later have a fully patched system with SP2. I installed it on 2 computers, one a 'clean' install of XP Pro, the other my usual 'dirty' machine which had SP1 already, along with the usual junk installed.

Speed: The clean system was not noticably slower than before. And I'm glad to report my dirty machine hasn't slowed down too noticably - however it's a powerful machine & I'd not like to see it on a slow machine.

Security Well the Security Center is the big thing. It appears on the first bootup (available in the Accessories->System Tools after) telling you your system status. It's colourful & friendly looking, should nothing be wrong. If you've no Anti-Virus installed, or it's not slap-bang up to date, you'll be warned "Your computer may be at risk" with a bright red warning icon that won't go away until you do something. Suggestions include buy new AV software (linking to a Microsoft page where various products are advertised) or turn off the monitoring.

I've Norton 7.5 installed, up to date as usual. It will only tie in properly if I update it! No thank you Microsoft, Norton can take care of itself.

Another thing I don't approve of is that Remote Assistance is still turned on by default. Could this be another hole ready for exploitation?

Testing the Firewall was peculiar. I tried WS_FTP, and it connected successfully before I got a prompt saying the Firewall had disabled "some" abilities? The lack of details gets to me, even going into the Firewall settings simply lists WS_FTP but doesn't say what it can & can't do. I don't believe this is any competition for a decent firewall app, should you know what you are doing.

You cannot prevent Windows apps from connecting to the net. Command line utils like ftp, ping, etc work fine without any interruption.

My dirty system has loads of spyware & adware that I've picked up on my trawls through the net recently. This was there with SP1, and SP2 didn't touch it. Security Center had nothing to say about them!

Internetting
Internet Explorer is updated, a pop-up blocker is added. There is also a lot more prompting about downloading files, making you aware of the security risks involved, but not getting too annoying. The notorious Outlook Express claims to be safer & more secure, but I'll stick with Eudora thanks

Media
Media Player is updated to version 9. Looks pretty, still resource hogging & nothing really new except maybe a new skin. Still gotta dig deep to remove DRM (Digital Rights Management) - but it's privacy settings are verified by you straight away, which is good, and lots disabled by default!

Wireless Support
I can't really test this, I don't have the hardware available. But in Accessories->Communications there is a Wireless Network Setup Wizard, which standardizes the setup. I guess this is an improvement over the propietry installers that come with most Wireless hardware.

Summary
It's a big download, so here's hoping the improvements are all security based! XP Professional & Home have been attacked by countless worms, trojans and viruses, bringing systems to their knees. I think it outrageous that Micorosft have gotton away with so much - had an employee waste as much time & money as one copy of XP, he's be fired straight away!

Security Center may help novices tighten up their systems, but those with experience will not rely on them too hard. It's the changes in the background that will make or break this update - should a new hole be found in SP2, system admins will be very annoyed.

I recommend you thoroughly disinfecting your system before installing SP2, removing all spyware & adware too. (I recommend spybot.safer-networking.de). Having a clean XP install & updating that will give you a nice stable system to work with.

But only time will tell if this update proves Microsoft's new-founded dedication to security pays off.
GF

Yipeeee!

(damn 10 character minimum)

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So, has anyone had any problems w/ SP2? I haven't installed it yet because I don't see any reason for me to upgrade yet. I run Linux 90% of the time now and when I'm on XP, I'm very cautious.

With all the holes people find that MS left open (see The Register article), I just don't see a valid reason to install it.

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Bloody eck! There's a good investigation into it's security.

I'm hearing a lot of IT companys telling their staff not to install SP2 (even MS has advice on blocking the SP2 update from Windows Update on it's site). Certainly SP1 & all the patches will give you a reasonably secure PC, but when all those new "features" are exploited, MS will probably require you to upgrade to SP2 to patch them.

At least the Service Pack is being given away on PC Magazine coverdisks, saving lots of people the download.
GF

Well here goes nothing. Thanks for the overview of the update. It takes an age even to start downloading so we'll see what it has to offer.

I really don't like the fact that it turns certain sneaky settings on like the ones in windows media player. I'm still rather happy with winamp. As for an updated internet explorer, they are frankly just too late I'm now a firefox convert and you'd have to make it the exact same product with a couple of extra features to bring me back.

As for the firewall that's pretty good news since I wasn't going to purchase one myself and I don't have any of the software that doesn't talk to SP2 very well thankfully.

After I sort all this out I'm going to use bootvis again and see how much I can get out of this old baby.

Rob

From everything I've read since SP2 came out, it doesn't seem like that much of a security patch. Mostly it appears to give messages to the user about security issues, rather than actually addressing things. The firewall still isn't as good as the free version of ZoneAlarm (but it's better than running naked).

And who cares about IE? Yes, it may still be the most popular, but I think much of that is laziness. With Firefox, Opera, et al. offering more features and better protection, there's no reason not to change. Some web sites may break, but that just means they're (usually) poorly designed, possibly not up to W3C standards. And using IE-specific features just pisses off people because of the security holes they cause.

IMO, MS should forgo Longhorn and start over from scratch. It's the only way to guarantee that Windows is secure. Well, maybe not; MS will be at the helm. But at least a new version of Windows will allow people to choose, especially if it wasn't compatible w/ legacy software. You can choose to run the buggy, legacy Windows w/ support for decades of software, or you can look to the future w/ a secure but incompatible version.

All it takes is a critical mass of new software to make the new version look like a good investment. But it's not really too different from when Windows went from 16-bit to 32-bit. And w/ the 64-bit evolution, now is the perfect time for MS to start fresh.

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