I did download the latest service pack for Windows XP, SP2 yesterday. First of all its pretty big, the ISO image was 475 mb so this is something you don’t want to download at a slow connection. Microsoft has said that you should be able to order the CD and get it shipped to you (its free). I was able to install the service pack on one of my test machines without any problems and am now in the process of installing it on a few other XP machines I have running.

A few words of caution before you do anything:

  • As always, make sure you backup anything that you cannot live without incase something goes wrong.
  • Close all applications including any spyware-watchers you might have such as Spybot
  • Ensure you have enough free space
  • If you have a NAS I would recommend disconnecting it. I have a Ximeta and the Service Pack somehow automatically selected that drive as its temporary store which was quite slow. I did not check if there is any optional parameter to pass the setup on which drive to use. I also think it automatically picks the drive with the most amount of free space which in my case was on the NAS.
  • Do let it create the uninstall information, even though it takes more space if something goes wrong this is what would be used to roll back.

Ok, I have the screen shots of the installation and after that I have shots of the new security features.

  1. Welcome Screen:
    <p> <img src="images/xpsp2%20step1.png" alt=""/> </p>

  2. Step 2:
    <p> <img src="images/xpsp2%20step2.png" alt=""/> </p>

  3. Read-Me Part 1:
    <p> <img src="images/xpsp2%20step3.png" alt=""/> </p>

  4. Read-Me Part 2:
    <p> <img src="images/xpsp2%20step4.png" alt=""/> </p>

  5. Extracting Files

  6. Setup Wizard

  7. License Agreement

  8. Uninstall Folder

  9. Updating the System

  10. Performing Inventory

  11. Estimating Space

  12. Backing up Files

  13. Installing Files Part 1

  14. Installing Files Part 2

  15. Updating the Registry

  16. Restarting Processes

  17. Performing Cleanup

  18. Completing

Here are more screen shots of the new features that are part of SP2, I have grouped them by features.

Control Panel - Below are the new icons that now show up in control panel.

<p> <img src="images/controlpanel.png" alt=""/> </p>

Windows Firewall:

  1. General

  2. Exceptions to the Firewall

  3. Advanced

  4. Firewall Advanced Settings

  5. ICMP Setting

  6. Connection Settings

  7. Log Setting

  8. Security Alert

Wireless Settings:

  1. Choosing a Wireless Network
    <p> <img src="images/winfirewall%20advanced%20setting4.png" alt=""/> </p>

  2. Wireless Connection

  3. New Wireless Icon:

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Miscellaneous - You will find screen shots of the File Security, Virus Protection and the new Win Security Center.

  1. File Download

  2. File Open

  3. Popup Blocker

  4. Virus Protection

  5. Win Security Center
    <p> <img src="images/winsecuritycenter.png" alt=""/> </p>

  6. Security Essentials

  7. Automatic Updates

  8. Security Alert Settings

  9. Security Alert Icon Task -

  10. Win About

So, any issues? Well none big so far with the exception that I do have Norton Antivirus 2004 running but the Security Settings does not recognise that. Though I can manually configure it to ignore that but ideally it should be able to pick this up? Not sure if this is an existing bug, but this is a pretty common application and am a bit surprised that Microsoft could not pick this up? Has anyone experienced any problems?