<html> <body> Avery, At 09:24 PM 10/4/2004, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>I've never heard yet of anyone recommending installing this update. Yet! Except Microsoft, of course. Even our university recommends waiting because of all the possible conflicts with major programs. </blockquote> There is a whole EM list set up specifically to try to deal with SP2 issues at colleges and universities.  It's been pretty quiet in the last few days; but, frankly, I think that largely has to do with folks waiting to see what/how MS is going to respond to some of the problems that they created in releasing this SP in the way in which they have. While SP2 is generally being pushed out at Stanford, that installation is being blocked by a number of the non-academic departments directly because of problems with financial/HR reported elsewhere. <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Besides that possibility, I've also heard to wait until at least "most" of the bugs in the update are fixed. You think there won't be some???? :-) </blockquote> Depends on who you talk to.  It is pretty clear that there are (altogether) ~ 200 applications that either do not work properly and/or are simply broken by SP2.  There have been several more updates (in some cases updates of updates) which deal with a number of problems...without spending entirely too much time fully reading each and every announcement, it is sometimes hard to tell what one should and should not install. From the perspective of the "average" home user, it _might_ be a different story...those who do not use fancy management and/or complicated stuff like upper-end games should check the sites listed below and then think about going ahead.  Cy's recommendations are very sound.  The only thing I might add further would be to move from XP Home to XP Pro, if you are using the "Home" edition.  Folks using Win2K, whose machines are stable and all that, are probably well advised to stay put until the fuss dies down a bit more. Anyway, I generally don't post on this kind of stuff here...it is a piano list - but, these are things which materially impact folks, and that kind of communication is what makes lists like this worthwhile in the first place. Best to all. Horace <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Avery At 05:59 PM 10/4/04, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Hi, Cy, Overall, really good advice; especially the link to checking vendor support sites.  Sometimes per-machine updates have changed by just a few serial numbers.    A few additional notes from the trenches:  - If your download/install of Win XP SP2 is only 50 MB, you have been lucky.  The "corporate" download (for XP Pro) is right at 276MB.  Further, there have been several versions of this SP put out (so far) by MS; at least three have been counted.  Yes, ordering the CD from MS is probably the most reasonable approach for anyone with dialup connectivity.  - Yes, it has some cool features; and yes, some of them are really improvements.  At the same time, it is, under the hood, a pretty serious rewrite of the entire OS code; replacing many original files right along with many that have come out in various hotfixes/etc.   - In light of this, before installing this (or, for that matter, any other major service pack), it would be really prudent to back up your entire machine, especially all your data files.   - Be sure to check the list of programs with known SP2 conflicts.  It is not a small list, nor limited to older software.  Here is the link: <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=842242&product=windowsxpsp2" eudora="autourl">http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=842242&product=windowsxpsp2</a>  - Allow plenty of time for this upgrade to take place.  It can take as long as a new OS install. Be careful out there! Best. Horace At 02:47 PM 10/4/2004, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>I've just installed XP SP2. Its focus is on improving security, and it has some nice features. However, it's a huge update (around 50 Meg to download), and overall takes a couple of hours to install (downloading is just the beginning!). Pick a time when you don't need the computer for anything urgent, as there's a chance that you may have to fiddle with it to get some particular program working again (TuneLab Pro's fine). If you only have dialup access, you will definitely want to order the CD from Microsoft, rather than attempt downloading. If you have Automatic Updates turned on, you might want to turn them off this month, so Microsoft doesn't download them for you (it's on Control Panel). Here's an overview of the new features: <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/default.mspx">http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/default.mspx</a> Before installing SP2, check your hardware vendor's site for any SP2-specific updates which you may need to apply first: <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/oemlinks.mspx">http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/oemlinks.mspx</a> If your PC isn't on this list, go to Control Panel | System and click the "Support Information" button. Also before installing, check this list of software for programs which may be affected (notably old versions of ZoneAlarm). Update them first: <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];xpsp2swhw" eudora="autourl">http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];xpsp2swhw</a> Lastly, make sure you have lots of free disk space, and check your file system for errors first (click Start, Help, and search for "repairing disk errors"). After installing SP2, run the error check again, and then defragment your C: drive (because of all the updates). Good luck! --Cy--  </blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></body> </html>