Discussion on:

Windows XP Service Pack 2: How it affects Internet Explorer

99% of the people that plop their comp on my bench do it because they have a virus or spyware (usually both) that takes advantage of a flaw in Windows/IE, or they are just tired of the mile-long EULAs and incessant pop-up warnings that Windows throws at them, and are just ignoring them now. I hope MS did it right this time, because if not, there will be a lineup of clients locked out of all the stuff they enjoy on the 'net just because of one extra step they don't know they should take, or one little setting they need to turn on. We have seen MS do some good stuff right off the bat, and we have seen them screw things worse in trying to fix mistakes. It will be interesting to see what happens with popup blocking and object caching (your clients may never be able to log into their banking site again) and authenticode (you think your clients ignore warning messages NOW) and of course the much-anticipated full-function firewall (a whole new generation of viruses written just to break MS firewall?). I will be watching the forums closely with anticipation and clearing bench space in my little repair shop for the carnage which may soon ensue.
Rickydoo
"The other white meat"

There is always a cost of improvement whether the improvement be for good or bad, as for the little repair shop remember "Those who know do and those who don't pay". Or is it whom... anyway... it's job security.

Well MOST of SP2 seems to work well. However, when I get to a site that has a built in pop up my system will onlypop up a bank small window. i have tried to change the pop up portion (even turned it off).. and turned off security yet the small window stays blank I have tried Mozzelaa Firefox and it work sfine in sp2. an example in the windows update of MS I have a driver it says I can update .. there is a "details" click on and when I click on it the blank window (smaller window) pops up and stays blank like it is getting stopped by some security system.. any ideas?? thanks

I just updated a NEW DELL Inspirion 1150 with XP SP2 and I am now going to rename the computer to: DOG SLOW.

The degradation of the laptop was immediately obvious - and bad.

Predictably it did get worse when I started two applications and then tried to perform simple task.

MY VOTE - BACK TO THE TRASH CAN WITH SP2!

I had the same problem when I downloaded that large and incumbersome file. I didn't completely remove previous spyware and ad-ware software before doing it, and it caused major headaches. (I was running Spy-bot and Panic-Ware). As soon as I removed Spy-Bot, and rebooted, my sytem sped up drastically, but still have problems that others are noting. I just MS would give you the chance to customize before it installs. Good luck. I was playing wiht XP to learn it as a technician. I am going back to W2K Professional. I think it is the second best thing MS has put out since WFW 3.11 (that s/w platform always worked great, and simple registry fixes). Good ole MS... Good luck Al

so far I've only seen this issue with dell insirions (and I see A LOT of computers with SP2, because I work tech support a a college that requires SP2 for network access) it's basicaly caused by some shortcut that dell took with their bios, and it makes the processor register within Windows as a 233-533 mhz processor depending on what it really is (1.7-3ghz is the spread I've seen behaving this way) the fix is really easy:
go to the Device Manager, right clickon the processor device and click properties. Go to the driver tab, click "Update Driver", and select the "I will manually select a driver for this device" option. Select the "processor" driver, install it, and reboot.

That should get "DOG SLOW" off to the races again...

P.S. One of my co-workers discovered that you may have to play around with the different "processor" drivers that are listed to get it back to full processing power, but one of them eventually did the trick.

I had two brand new factory fresh Dell Inspiron 1150s. Hit exactly the same problem with both. Two different install routes. First was sp2 first and that ended back as a back out when after a disk defrag and other attempts to fix showed that all was very sick.

Second machine I installed all the sp1 updates outstanding, cleaned off things I did not need and then installed sp2. result was exatly the same. Backed out as well.

So what is the rpoblem and where is the fix?

Experience better than a friend who endedup with an unbootable system and took ages hacking to get ti toi where he could revert back to an earlier restore point.

Sorry, I can empathize because I've seen this same problem on the SP2 test machine I use here at TechRepublic. Some of our internal tools (like the content entry system) use pop-ups that are now popping up as tiny blank windows, when they pop at all.

To me that's the odd part--sometimes the IE pop-up blocker correctly blocks the pop-up entirely but sometimes it leaks thru with this little blank pop-up windows.

I agree wiht you folks. Seems like almost everything is blocked except one or two of the same pop-ups. For myself and my clients, most of our pop-ups are from a Travel place which is blank, or I get some ONLINE GAMING come up. I have not been able to get rid of these for nothing. As I mentioned in earlier posts. I was playing with XP to learn it as I cannot continue in this business with outdated software. But MS just doesn't seem to want to let go of something. Back to W2K on my home machine, and will run XP on a small stand-alone so I can learn the trouble shoot (or have something to throw). Where is good old Windows 4 Workgroups 3.11 Such simplicity..... AL

I installed SP2 und driver from windows update.
When I am opening a video via IE I get a blue screen with windows media player and a distorted picture with RealPlayer. In both cases the system freezes and CtlAltDel or any other function does not work. I can only restart by removing power and battery.
Any suggestions?
Kind regards
Franz

After installing SP2 I had the blue screen a couple of times on my brand new computer (which was working FINE before SP2!

I used the System Restore to go back to just before SP2 was installed. SP2 did actually create a restore point for me ... how thoughtful of Microsoft! Well, things are back to normal now that SP2 is gone.

I just got my realtor's computer in to work on, and her son messed things up with installing SP2, and now a BSOD. I will try the restore and see what happens. I hate to wipe out her HDD and start all over again. And people ask why I call XP "Xtra Problems" Normal for Microsoft, now that is a broad range. LOL Al

I had the same problem and also got an error message when trying to do a word search.
Both were a bit of a pain

The SOLUTION, for me anyway, lies here:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=870700&product=windowsxpsp2#9

Tried it and both these functions now work.

Nobby in Scotland

Something to do with how the popup is created/triggered perhaps? Say Active controls vs javascript, or perl vs php etc. Just musing here.

Will this take care of the "new" type of pop up I've been seeing? This pop up hasn't been putting a window button on the task bar. I've started seeing this on webistes recently where they are doing the pop-up within their web page. It doesn't open that separate window and no matter how long you wait, it stays over the text. I know, I've tried to wait it out. You actually have to click on the pop up to get rid of it. Technically, it's not new, I've just seen more websites using it recently.

Too bad it doesn't take care of this old pop-up I've seen for some years now.

Whenever I install or reinstall Windows XP, I get a pop-up that says, "Activate your copy of Windows".

Oddly enough, I get similar pop-ups with Office XP, Office 2003, or any other modern Microsoft app.

Unfortunately, they're Microsoft-sponsored pop-ups.

Sure wish somebody would invent a blocker for those...

I think they did. His name is Bill Gates, and it will come out with expensive untried version with major bugs called LongHorn (or did they rename it). Seems all my PoP-ups came after putting in the latest s/w from MS. Looks more like I am going to build my Linux box after all. At least I am convinced I am going back to W2K and good old Panic-Ware and Check-it386 (Which BTW, coming from COX COMMUNICATIONS) has it's flaws which conveniently support COX. No wonder they don't charge ya :^) Al

Q: "Why doesn't my pop-up blocker stop all pop-ups?"

A: "Because if a site is in the trusted zone (sometimes the ONLY way you'll be able to view a site), pop-ups are NOT blocked.

My, what a fine back door for people to get pop-ups on my screen.

I guess the solution is to turn off pop-up blocking and find a free, third-party app that blocks the pop-ups I truly want to block.

FYI, I just downloaded this patch last night and
I can't use MSN or Yahoo or my work email via
Outlook Web Access . I am a newbie to PCs
and so I blindly accepted and downloaded
Service Pack 2. It totally shut me down last
night. I can't access my email because I can't
figure out how to accept cookies, etc. So, I
have to assume there are other non-IT folks
like me who are going to be royally *&%#@ at
MSN.

Writing from Behual, Michigan coffee shop, been trying my hp laptop out, using aol betas with recent windows sp2, it is interesting in that lower left corner activity, especially twin monitor icons, now show, from left to right, coffee house's lan, and next, a single lit monitor with waves going to right, then an "xed" dual non lite monitor that represent my home lan (conntected to dlink router along with iimac and 1996 model windows XP.

At home the apple airport extreme (802.11g) does the job of connecting the only internet connect through the telephone, thus is seems to satify the, say aol beta, as a WAN (virtual?).

Cannot say what is going on, even at the level of what software is going into my "computers".

The hp laptop, here, with vendors windows, aol beta, apple (through their pc software), and maybe others, just what is going on, I do not know.

But, ... so far windxpSP2 may represent MS's effort to "soften" their software's copywrite hold on some pocket books, and that may be it's apparent, what I'm guessing off the wall now, use of mozilla firefox browser to sustain a foot in both operating systems.

That would be a smart move, but corporations beware, you have nothing to lose but your customers, even if major corporations, not the dedicated "nerds" pecking away.

We've been laid off, out of work, but not constructive work.

Wireless offers the hope of connecting the "bottom uppers" and if lifeless corps can arise, throw off the chains that bind you, blind them, to a new world of faster cuniform-to-clay baked communications, that is to alpha-numeric, pen-ink-to-paper, fingers-to-keys, to the world wide web, then we all can reduce the waste of resources, of corporations and of our labor, whether scribes scribbling on clay to be baked, in ovens or the sun.

It's up to you, me, and time tested working devices, like our body and minds.

There, I've have another mocca latte another day.

From the depths, euripides' clone, roger m.

Uhh, was that a double mocca latte???

LMAO.......

I have recently had the misfortune to remove virus from three PCs one with 210 virus, 41 virus and 8 virus. When I've suggested that the safe option would be to reload WimXP and then patch SP2, then Antivirus+Ad-aware most clients opt for the "just remove the viruses option" and it can take 4 - 6 hours to remove the viruses. I've used stinger and other dos level removal tools and it still is a pain to remove viruses. Most cleints don't understand that its safer and easier to start afresh. But what is your experiences. I personal want clients to use SP2 even if there was a slow down in IE (so far I haven't seen it, but you do have to train users how to let in cookies, an active X programs when they want the page to load).

I agree that starting afresh with a clean slate and a wiped drive is the best option. I normally FDISK, or use other disk wiping programs before putting in another partion and preparing for the OS. SP2 is going to bog down if they are using AD-WARE or SPYBOT programs. I had to remove mine. SP2 does a "fair" job of blocking pop-ups other then the ones that seem to be beneficial or part of MS lame excuses to integrate into their sytems. Welcome to the world of your avg end user not knowing that virus definations need to be updated to be effective, or taking the time to learn. I think that is the most frustrating thing as a techie we deal with. Smiling when we want to yell at folks. Then we go and do the same dumb things ourselves everynow and then. Good luck. But definatley wipe out. Not all viruses are automatically removed. You may have to remove them with tools. Personally, I feel SYMANTEC has the best out there. And free tools to remove those that stay resident or cannot be deleted byt the AV software. Good luck. Al

"Personally, I feel SYMANTEC has the best out there."

I'm sorry, I have to disagree with you on that one. BIG time. I'm of the opinion that Symantec is riding on their laurels from years past. Lots of folks buy it because they recognize the 'brand', but it is bloated with excess features that often break (Norton Internet Security springs to mind).

I sat with an elderly lady one day trying to download the simple virus scanner online, and each page she got to, they kept adding in MORE items that we had to keep removing from the 'cart'. If I hadn't been there to help, she would have accidentally purchased at least 4 extra software titles that she didn't need or want.

This isn't even TOUCHING the fact that their scanners often don't find half the viruses out there (updated and all). I find a combination of Grisoft's virus scanner and Trend Micro work best, one catches what the other doesn't.

Of course, spyware/malware/trojan/dialer removal calls for several more programs and some good old fashion registry editing. That and knowing what bogus file names generally look like. The number one removal tool in my books is Google!

And yes, 4 to 6 hours is about right for a complete clean up of a heavily infested machine that the emotional owner wants to 'save' and not simply reformat and start fresh. Although usually if you explain that you can save their data, just not the software, they cave.

*climbing down off soap box*

Gryf

TANSTAAFL - "There aint no such thing as a free lunch"

First, I apologize for the length of this post, but I have seen more than a few people bitten by the "clean the viruses manually" issue.

I see this quite often with the end-user who just wants the computer working again.

I explain to the customer that a manual removal of viruses on a heavily infested computer can take up to four times as long as a format and re-install of the operating system. Also I explain that there is not guarentee that this issue will not re-occur and that their software may not work properly after infected components have been removed.

I also add the idea that if I do a clean installation and setup for them, it is possible to create a restore set that will save them time and money if (when) this happens again, by allowing them to backup their data and then run the restore set. I do offer a data-backup service for customers and will run the restore for free in those cases (just a little proactive marketing).

If they know that their data can be recovered (which is sometimes very important to them) before you nuke the system and start over, they are often more amenable to the clean installation solution.

The problem with the user who wants you just to "clean off the viruses" is that they often have no idea of what a manual clean out requires in time and effort.

Once you have explained the process, I find that even the least knowledgable user realizes that it will probably more effective to start from scratch.

If they still insist that I "just clean out the viruses and not try to sell them on anything else", I do exactly that and bill by the hour for all of the time it takes to get the system back up and running. Make sure that you provide an "estimate" for them first and make sure that they approve of it before continuing. Some of these customers are going to complain bitterly when they realize that the 70,000 virus infected files on their computer take a very long time to manually cleanup (I actually had a box in the shop which had that). If at that point they don't want you to clean up the box, but want to take it somewhere else, you will be happier letting them do so.

I am not saying that this is the only solution, but from my own experience, doing half the job with a manual cleanup of the viruses results in call backs, acrimony and wasted time. Might as well do it right the first time.

Once again the monster MS entity does not move UNTIL the Linux world demonstrates that code can be developed that is suitable for internet roaming and that does not plague the user with unnecessary widgets, Trojans and the like.

Now that these basic IE changes are available for XP what do you want to guess about their not making them available for all versions of IE on all OS?s. I can believe that they are that ill sited.

Currently I use alternative browsers 95% of the time and am enjoying the extra time saved by not having to remove excess advertising KaKa from my system as when using IE.

Will it work or will this be the beginning of a NEW realm of issues that become our next browsing plague.

Issues = Revenue $$$ - Long live the revenue machine!!!!

Personally I hate SP2 as it will prevent me from charging friends a steak dinner for downloading & installing the Google pop-up blocker...

How does using "alternative browsers" + IE 5% of the time save you time over just using IE? Pay $29 bucks for Ad-Aware professional and get a life.

Because the object is not having to always drop cash in order to acquire functionality that should already be there. That's why you use FREE internet browsers that have been doing what MS is finally doing.
Keep the $29.00 in your pocket and then use it to buy a clue.

My customers get infected about three times at a great cost before they consider changing their behavior. A great way to lose a customer is when their machine gets reinfected and they think you should have protected them (i.e., "I thought this wasn't supposed to happen again!)
In my experience those using Firefox do not get reinfected that quickly, thus their impression is that my company is 'doing a good job'.

Hmmm...I want to build a trojan and mess up as many people as I can. should I build it to work on 95% of the users out there or 1% of the users? Oh boy that's a real toughie. Quit fooling yourself with your linux fantasies of impreviousness.

Survey: How long will it take before someone writes a virus to exploit weaknesses in these new IE features?


a) 1 month
b) 6 months
c) 9 months
d) 1 year
e) Tomorrow

I think you've taken too many certification exams.
But anyway, nice question? Let's wait and see.

"Microsoft Certified Virus Chaser", that is.

Sorry...the real answer is:

f) Yesterday!

Prior to SP2 I utilized the option in IE to block cookies from certain web sites that I selected. Now that space is occupied by the popup blocker option. Does anybody know whether or not a user can still block cookies from selected sites in IE?