David,
I agree with you about installing all of the XP upgrades as they are
issued. SP2 has those upgrades included (all since SP1). SP2 is causing a
lot of problems for a lot of people so I still say KISS for now. Then there
is Longhorn (available sometime in 2006) the next incarnation of the
Windows operating system. It will be a major change, being able to handle
vector images and 64 bit information, etc. Longhorn elements will be
incorporated into XP before Longhorn is released. I will probably wait for
this release rather than use SP2.
I use Black Ice to see how many hacking attempts there is on my
computer. When I turn off Zone Alarm I get about one every few minutes.
With Zone Alarm enabled I get no attempts except an occasional random
attempt (a fishing expedition that gets no entry - perhaps one attempt per
day). I don't think any attacker will be able to get into my system.
So in light of Zone Alarm and other protections I use, I fail to see how my
computer activities and software can fowl up other computers. Perhaps you
can explain?
J Dent
At 10:31 AM 9/4/2004, you wrote:
> While the KISS principle has value in many contexts, I argue that this
>isn't one of them.
>
> Several major worm/virus outbreaks of the last four years would have been
>a whole lot less severe if more people had installed updates that were
>already available -- in some cases, had been for eight months. Too many PC
>users take this attitude, apparently believing that a pound of cure, and a
>colossal headache for everyone else on the Internet, is far more fun than an
>ounce of prevention.
> The fact that so many computer problems are pretty much invisible until
>someone finds a way to abuse them should lead us to realize that users are
>rarely in a position to correctly judge whether "everything works fine". In
>my work environment, I frequently encounter users whose new program/device
>"works fine" -- except that it's disrupting service to hundreds or sometimes
>thousands of their colleagues and neighbors. They don't know others are
>having problems, and can't tell that they're the cause.
>
> As to Mary's specific issue, many Yahoo games require Java applets to be
>permitted. So my hunch would be that installing SP2 tightened up the
>default security level in her browser, and that loosening that one area just
>a little will be better in the long run than uninstalling the whole Service
>Pack.
>
>David Gillett
>
>
>On 3 Sep 2004 at 23:47, John Dent wrote:
>
> > Mary,
> >
> > It may be tempting to install SP 2 but I recommend that you don't. I use
> > the Kiss principle (Keep it simple stupid!) when installing software and
> > updates. If everything works fine then why upgrade? This applies to all
> > software upgrades.
> >
> > J. Dent
> >
> > At 06:57 AM 9/3/2004, you wrote:
> > >We play Yahoo and MSN games frequently. We downloaded the XP Service Pak
> > >2 the other day. After doing so, we were not able to get into any of the
> > >Yahoo games. I contacted Yahoo Help, followed the instructions they have
> > >to no avail.
> > >
> > >Finally, my son uninstalled the Service Pak and everything is working fine
> > >now. I know the Service Pak is important but we do like the option of
> games.
> > >
> > >Has anyone else had this problem. If not, does anyone have any
> suggestions.
> > >
> > >Thanks.
> > >
> > >Mary Baker
> > >[log in to unmask]
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >---------------------------------
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> >
> > PCSOFT's List Owner's:
> > Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
> > Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>
>
> PCSOFT's List Owner's:
> Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
> Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>
PCSOFT's List Owner's:
Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>
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