The New Windows XP SP2

[BillyGalbreath]

DONT GET IT !!! OMFG ! I wasted about 18 man hours of work because of that piece of shit.

I bought a new hard drive (200gb) and started everything from scratch because I do this kind of thing every few months.. Well, I spend about 14 hours setting everything up - doing customizations - recoding things - fixing little errors in windows and other apps I use - Record time, i must say..

Early in the process I noticed the XP SP2 was released. So I decided I would give it a shot, after I get everything perfect that is..

Ok - so 14 hours after I start working I start craxking windows and probing microsoft's update servers to get a valid serial that hasnt been used yet. Basically a serial thats still in the box on the shelf at a store... Took about 3 hours to get one. So I crack windows - microsoft thinks I bought my windows - then I download the SP2.

Ok, so when I reboot I notice its doing a few extra things in the background.. Mainly dealing with the TCP/IP (internet protocol for you comp illiterate people). So I go on about my busniess and let it load - I figured it was a one time thing fixing some security issues.

Then this new feature pops up - its called Windows Security Center. They put in a ****ing firewall. A SHIT firewall at that. It blocked everything I do. AIM, Yahoo, VNC, VPN, FTP, HTTP, IRC. Its all gone. None of my ports are open. And I have lost all control over them all. This firewall is either on, blocking everything. Or off, allowing everything.

So I turned the stupid thing off. Took me about 5 whole minutes to figure the stupid thing out. But when I turned it off the stupid thing stops communicationg with my hub. So I lost ALL internet. I even lost the home network connection. My computer is totally isolated from everything. Cut off from the world, and my home.

So I start manually playing with the TCP/IP setting - I set the IP I have my hub set to give my machine - I set the gateway up - I even rerouted my DNS thru a GTE Mainframe. Still nothin...... BUT ! I had the local network back. I was jacked back into my home network and the machine was communicating with the hub again.

After about 2 hours of playing with these stupid new features - Mainly the TCP/IP - I finally realized - this isn't going to go anywhere. I've lost all my control because microsoft wants to go "user friendly" on our asses. This is the point where I realized the main concept behind the SP2. There is no security fixes. They are just taking away the control from people like me. They are trying to dominate everything the user can do.

Instead of giving you options for things, now they just say - its this way, or no way at all... There is no middle ground. No customizing. Nothing. It totally sucks ass.

Then I realized yet ANOTHER thing they did. The TCP/IP is totally wack. Its the main thing they ****ed with. And I realized that the new TCP/IP is EXACTLY like their BETA verion of the TCP/IP in the Windows code named LongHorn.

I've played with LH's TCP/IP before and they totally rebuilt it from the ground up. They took away all customizations - at least the ones that are extremely helpful for someone like me... And it is full of bugs. I mean FULL of them !

The runtime slowed down drastically. My machine was running at maybe 25% its normal speed. I had no internet. My LAN (local network) was iffy - one second it would work - the next it wouldn't - it required alot of Refreshing the screens - the new features aren't customizable. Most you cant even turn off. All these new features that sound helpful, but really just get in the way of everything the normal user does, they are all set to ON as default. And to turn them off you have to know what the hell you are doing - which maybe 5% of the users actually will know enough to be able to turn these features off.

All in all. Dont download the SP2. There is no security fixes in it. All it does is add alot of new features that are UNWANTED by the majority. And For the minority that does want them, they are still in BETA stages and I looked up the statistics - 1 in every 10 machines will accept the new SP2 without error. So the 90% of the minority will be ****ed because it WILL mess up and cause MAJOR errors, such as loss of internert if settings turned off, or loss of messenger services if left on.

Plus there are most probably ALOT more areas that this "fix" has broken. I only spent 2 hours with it - and most of that time I spent trying to fix the TCP/IP so that I could gain internet access again. I never did fix it - and I just formatted and reinstalled everything again without the SP2 this time.

So - basically to my point here - if you've never followed any advice from me before - follow it here:

DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE NEW WINDOWS XP SP2 FIX - IT IS USELESS AND WILL JUST CAUSE PROBLEMS AND FIX NOTHING.

[Zekk_T_Strife]

I must've been one of the lucky 1 out of 10. When I first got it I noticed that lame firewall pop up and it said I needed antivirus. I can't get the icon off of my taskbar. It keeps bitching about my lack of antivirus but gives me no medium do download any kind of free one. And I would rather keep sweeping my computer than pay for a program that does it automatically. But I can live with a little red shield with a white X through it, no biggie. When I first installed it my AIM worked but not my IE. I restarted and everything was fine and I haven't noticed any further problems. I like this kinda stuff, it'd be invaluable to post about new updates like this so we should know whether they're crap or not.