:: Venting Insanity ::

:: Friday, August 13, 2004 ::

xp sp2
How Will Apps Fare with XP SP2?

Still, though, Martell cited a couple of areas that might emerge as lingering concerns, including Symantec Corp.'s Norton anti-virus software.

"For quite some time now, Norton's had trouble working with just about every OS you can think of, anyway," Martell said.

Indeed, Symantec has posted a notice on its own Web site stating that it's working on an upgrade for SP2, to be released Aug. 10. Symantec also has asked customers to postpone SP2 installation until the Norton patch is complete.

Noooo!! Not Norton!

For its part, Microsoft has been sketchy about which applications from other vendors might suffer from XP incompatibilities. Meanwhile, in Usenet newsgroups, beta testers have blamed SP2 for problems with a wide range of software apps, including RealPlayer, print servers, and Doom and other games, to list a few.

Some of which I use... {{sigh}}

In a posting to the "beta" section of the same newsgroup on July 19, a developer from Tech-Pro Utilities claimed that when build 2149 was installed, the company's freeware utilities stopped working.

The developer added that he's discovered a workaround, but that it involves renaming the company's VDSPOPUP.DLL to something that doesn't use the word "popup," and then recompiling the whole app.

Is Microsoft jumping on the pop-up blocker bandwagon?

"The Internet Connection Firewall in SP2 is much more like a real firewall. Now, it acts more like ZoneAlarm. If one of your applications is trying to go out and access the Internet, it will tell you. This should be a big help in dealing with viruses, especially Trojan horses," Hoffman said.

This could be good...

Microsoft Offers XP SP2 Download for IT Managers

Microsoft warned developers and customers that XP2 might be incompatible with a number of third-party applications. More recently, Microsoft added admonitions about its own Microsoft Business Solutions CRM versions 1.0 and 1.2 and offered a patch for the applications.

Here's the patch.

Users Give XP SP2 Mixed Marks

Users have reported everything from unproblematic installs to complete system failures. In between, difficulties varied from confusing user interface changes to broken applications to performance slowdowns. Many said SP2's features improved their confidence in the platform's security; others said they continue to be surprised by minor issues.

Sounds about normal for Microsoft...

Windows Firewall has a more serious shortcoming, according to critics such as Zone Labs, maker of the ZoneAlarm firewall: It can be turned off by a third party. ZoneAlarm, McAfee's Personal Firewall Plus and Symantec's Norton Personal Firewall are all being updated to disable Windows Firewall when they are installed, and switch it back on when they are uninstalled.

And if another firewall or an administrator can switch Windows Firewall off, so could an attacker, argued Zone Labs.

Interesting thing to note...

Broken applications were among the most common issues users reported with SP2—something Microsoft has been warning users about for several months—often an effect of changes in Windows XP's security settings. Symantec this week released patches for its Norton anti-virus products enabling them to work with Windows' new Security Center. Microsoft has said that some of its own products, such as its customer relationship management software, will need patching to work with SP2.

Norton's Patch...

DivX 5.2 and Dr. DivX 1.0.5, which support DivX-encoded video, don't install properly on SP2 systems; a new feature called Data Execution Protection, designed to eliminate buffer overflows, must be temporarily turned off before running the DivX installer.

Here's how and why... according to DivX.

A Detailed Look at Windows XP SP2

Read before you download... that's what I always say.

snapple "real fact" #330
The top of the Empire State Building was originally built as a place to anchor blimps.

I keep getting this one... @.@