Migrated from Archive

Instadoc0000007

With all the fun people have been having Installing SP2 for Windows XP, Microsoft has developed a tool to block the deployment of SP2 from automatic update for 120 days following August 16th. The reasons for this include reports popping up about computers not coming back up after installing SP2 and, worse yet, vendors being caught unaware. Despite all the talk about SP2 and the new security features it installs, many vendors have yet to start testing thier products on SP2. Microsoft has a writeup on the requests to freeze SP2 at TechNet, and the tool is available here.

Migrated from Archive

Intstadoc0000006
Apparently today we had at least 9 pc's that wouldn't come back after SP2 auto-installed. The only fix we found was downloading the deployment pack and manually installing it. Not sure if its just the servers we seem to be getting, but for safety purposes, the deployment pack is available at :

SP2 Deployment Install

Please note, SP2 requires 1.8 gigs of free space to install.

Migrated from Archive

Instadoc0000004
I am not much of a gamer, so you won't find gaming news here very often, but a tidbit of information has crossed my wires that I feel deserves at least a small writeup. While Sierra doesn't have as much name recognition as say, ID software, they have made a whole generation of innovative and memorial games.

Migrated from Archive

Well, yesterday I have a question relayed to me asking about Internet phones. My first reaction was whether they meant Voice over IP (VoIP) in the traditional sense, or looking at some of the more modern gadgets that are available and making revolutionary changes in modern telecommunications. From this, comes this three part article on VoIP. VoIP has different beginnings depending on where you look. The business community first started looking at this based of ATM technology, versus IP because that the time that is what was available with enough bandwidth. The drive: businesses were looking to consilodate their telecommunications solutions into one neat hardware package. When the geek and gamer communities got a hold of this idea they flew with it and had some great software solutions.

Migrated from Archive

Somethings I forgot to mention in "Windows XP Service Pack 2: What do I get?" (InstaDOC0000001) is that Microsoft also tweaked the TCP/IP stack in windows. This was in response to many user complaints about how difficult it was to fix IP stack corruption in windows. In addition to trying to optimize traffic, the people in Redmond have added a self-healing ability to the protocol. However, this has caused issues with some people's internet connections.

Migrated from Archive

For the last two months Microsoft had been dangling Service Pack 2 for Windows XP in front of consumers to do for the desktop what Windows 2003 did for the server arena. For years now, Microsoft has been getting a black eye from critics' jabs at the numerous security holes and bugs in Microsoft's products. Most recent, the vulnerability in Internet Explorer that has caused many source including Cert, Homeland Security, and even Microsoft's own "Slate" E-zine to recommend users use anything but Internet Explorer to surf the web. Readers will be happy to note that a patch for this security hole has been fast developed, and Microsoft has announced that will incorporate this patch into SP2. So, why the delay? Well the Release Candidate 2 has been around for a while, and most people haven't reported too many problems with it. However, even at the beginning of this past week, Microsoft was reporting that two out of five test machines would not come back up after the post-upgrade reboot. I am sure that most people wouldn't be happy with only a 60% success rate.