Windows XP service pack two has been released to manufacturing.
This is good news, because Microsoft have bitten the bullet and adopted security strategies that they should have adopted years ago. However, SP2 is going to cause problems, it will break applications and may interfere with applications that require unfettered Internet access.
My suggestion is that, if you already have a decent firewall and don’t use Internet Explorer for web browsing or Outlook/Outlook express for email, that you hold off installing SP2 for a couple of weeks. Wait for a while and see what gets messed up for other people before trying it yourself. In two weeks time or so, do a google search for something like “XP SP2 software break” and see what applications people are having problems with before deploying it yourself.
INSERT: even IBM have decided to hold off deploying SP2 until they know exactly what the effect will be. A wise decision.
Regards
Franki
