XP SP2 Changes (Review, not Problem)

[Xanex]

Hi all

I have installed Xp Sp2 and have been using it now for about 24 hours, This is a review of visible changes that SP2 does, It is NOT a call for help. I will also tell you the services you can disable, some changes listed might not appear for you.

Feel free to help add to this list, i will compile a bigger list later.

#1 (on my machine anyway) the white on black status bar shows up when booting just before the boot Logo

#2 The boot up XP logo has changed, there is no Professional or Home tag

#3 The new security center, (this can be turned off see #4), works with application aware products, ie Norton 2004 products, NIS & NAV

#4 The security center can be turned off via services.msc, i reccomend u turn this off if u run any other 3rd party firewall and AV the SS will bug u constanly, . I personally have enough of NAV and NIS bugging me about updates (esp as NAV considers no auto live update as a critical problem)

#4b if you dont wish to turn it off completly you can stop the alerts by selecting the 4th option on the list on the left of the SS.

#5 new windows update. This wont work properly for the first few times if you dont turn off ur firewall (not tested with Windows FW) Once updated it should work as normal

#5b Automatic Windows update has changed, you can stop this via the SS. tho.....

#5c If you disable the service via services.msc then Windows Update will not work. you have to have the service "started" and "automatic" if you want this to work, "manual" will not work

#6 The New DEP service, if you run a AMD64 or New P4 chip they have the NX instruction sets. You can disable this via the performance options in the system window. If you do not have a AMD64 chip etc then this is done via software. I have yet to find out how to stop software DEP

#7 Processes Running with SP1a (b4 SP2 and tweaked so unnecessary services arnt running) = 25

Processes Running with SP2 installed (Disabled all the services that where enabled that i recognised from SP1a) = 27

2 new processes are running, I have yet to find out what they are.

More services and tasks would run, i estimate as much as 8 more if your system is left untweaked from a fresh install and upgrade to sp2 from sp1

#8 3 new additions to the control panel - the SS and windows firewall and wireless configuration wizard

#9 new visible support for Wireless networks - Under My Network Places

#10 Show icones for networked UPnP devices - under My Network Places

#11 IE has recieved a pop up blocker, this can be found in the tools-> internet options

#12 tools-> internet options, various changes here, notibly under advanced-> security you will see a few more tick boxes about active content with media

#13 you can now manage the add-ons like the google toolbar, this will allow removal of annoying toolbars that install with some software

#14 The add-remove programs program, will group updates and can be shown by selecting the check box

#15 Some services are disabled by default, namely windows messenger (NET SEND command)

*NEW*

#16 Outlook express gets some fine adjsutments to security (researching now)

There is more to this, i will list the changes as i find them

Xanex