July 19, 2004
Updating Windows XP might be painful
Next month Microsoft will reelase Service Pack 2 (SP2), an update to Windows XP. When you install the update do expect some of your installed products not to work reports USA Today.
As Microsoft prepares to launch its biggest security upgrade ever to Windows, dubbed Service Pack 2, the company is trying to strike a difficult balance between making things safe and making things work.
It's a tough job that is eliciting grumbling from companies whose applications could require major changes ó and glee from security experts who say any software product that doesn't work wasn't secure enough in the first place and needs to be fixed.
"I hope it breaks more things than it's already broken," said Russ Cooper, senior scientist at TruSecure.
That's because Cooper believes the free SP2 update is badly needed in the ever-rowdier world of Internet-connected computing ó and a good wake-up call for other companies that also need to improve security functions.
"The applications that will break with SP2 were essentially doing things wrong from a security perspective," said John Pescatore, vice president of Internet security at Gartner Research.
My suggestion, DO NOT install SP2 as soon as it is out but wait a week or so to see what problems others experience and what work arounds come about.
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