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Win XP SP2 blues...

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CIOL Bureau
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So its finally here. After innumerable delays in its launch the much-talked about, major upgrade to Microsoft's Windows XP Service Pack 2 has finally arrived. One milestone is covered, but there is a new challenge that is standing right in front of solution providers. That is the issue related to its 'deployment.'

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Beware if Windows Firewall is turned on





According to an online report if you try to upgrade your Windows with SP2 with your Firewall turned on you may face problems with file and print services and remote management applications and services. Basically, any service that tries to establish a remote connection to XP SP2 will get interrupted said the report.

Shavlik Technologies has submitted a document that guides users on how to use the Active Directory and configuring a system for remote management. A system builder has advised gamers to turn off the firewall to take other security benefits that the service pack offers.

There is a word of caution if you are thinking of disabling the firewall. If not handled properly it may close all other open connections like dial-up etc.

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Back up your data!





Take a full data backup before installing this update, as some solution providers are apprehensive of a total 'system crash,' and many such cases have been reported also. Though MS has a procedure for rolling back but this removes other service packs also in the process, and takes a lot of time to fix said Jeffrey Sherman, president of Warever Computing, Los Angeles, in an online report.

The flip side...

Amidst this cloud of apprehension some solution providers are of the opinion that the service pack brings a lot of security benefits with it and is hence 'worth the pain.' According to John Parkinson, chief technologist for the North American Region of Capgemini, there will be a lot of repair work that needs to be done as lot of things will break under SP2 and bad code has to be reworked on.

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Other than security, the Wi-Fi management tools that come with the SP2, are also attracting some of the solution providers.

All said and done, the industry on the whole is positive about this major upgrade to Windows operating system and is hopeful that the software giant will release fixes for all the existing incompatibilities and others that may arise in the future.

 



 



 



 



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