Windows XP SP2: A bandage, not a panacea

Unless you've been living in a cave for the past few months, you already know Microsoft Corp. has released Windows XP SP2 (Service Pack 2), the biggest update ever to XP. You also know that it's supposed to fix the security holes that have become all too apparent in Windows XP SP1. You know what SP2 is; what you might not know is what it actually does and how it works.

With SP2, Microsoft has delivered much in the way of security improvements. But before you let it loose on production machines throughout your company, you'd be well served to run it on test machines: Some additions can actually break your applications.

In my tests, I loaded the SP2 disk into a fast, well-equipped HP Workstation xw8000 running XP Professional SP1. Installation requires you to wait for the autoload to bring up a menu, agree to the license agreement, and let it go.

I did run into problems when trying to install SP2 on a nearly identical xw8000; the computer wouldn't boot. After spending an hour on the phone with Microsoft's India-based support team, I resolved the problem. Unfortunately, I never figured out the cause or the fix; things were just suddenly working.