[Xanex]

Try removing the 3ivX and XviD codecs, i had similar problems, whereby the media player would take preference of a certain codec to display everything, turns out to be a bad codec

when sp2 works it works great, best on fresh installations, tho there are still conflicts and random bugs with certain programs like norton. but when it goes wrong it can go horribly wrong.

if you have av and firewall, and dont want to risk sp2 then dont. the main features for sp2 are for people who dont have firewalls or who dont want to go out and buy it. since it takes less than 30 seconds to be hijacked on an xp box fresh on the internet.

i also dont remember them issuing any serious updates with sp2 like they did with sp1, there was this one update that was only avail with sp1 and they stopped you using the WU site till u gave in to sp1, i dont know if they still have that restriction