Just a word about my experieces with XP SP2. I've had occasion to
perform several upgrades so far on my own and customer systems. The
installed nav software was CAPN Voyager 6.1.3, Maptech Ocean Navigator
5.04, OziExplorer 3.95.3e, and several releases of my own software
(cpRepeater).

So far, I have no problems to report. The new, somewhat more
effective Windows firewall initially blocks network traffic from
cpRepeater in networking mode, as it should. It only takes a single
mouse click the first time you start cpRepeater to unblock its network
traffic. Anybody that has ever used an effective software firewall
like ZoneAlarm will instantly recognize the process.

For more information about SP2 , check out:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...r=windowsxpsp2

Briefly, SP2 is a significant upgrade to the security of WindowsXP.
It's like a flak jacket - it doesn't make you absolutely bullet proof,
but it stops a lot of the small caliber stuff. :-) There are other
features, but I regard security as the compelling one. Most of the
security issues addressed by SP2 will have already been handled by the
expert user with add-on firewalls, third party email packages, and a
replacement browser like Mozilla Firefox (highly recommended! I
switched a few months ago and I find it to be superior in every way.
YMMV).

For a naked XP system with an internet connection, SP2 is a very
important upgrade, but it is not trivial. You should definitely read
*all* the information at the above link before upgrading, but my
personal opinion is that you should upgrade when it is convenient.
Backup your system first!

If I happen to uncover any problems with nav software and SP2, I'll
post it here, but the original distirbutors of the software are the
authoritative source.

Glen
__________________________________________________ __________
Glen "Wiley" Wilson usenet1 SPAMNIX at worldwidewiley dot com
To reply, lose the capitals and do the obvious.

Take a look at cpRepeater, my NMEA data integrator, repeater, and
logger at http://www.worldwidewiley.com/

"Glen "Wiley" Wilson" wrote in
message ...
. . .

Briefly, SP2 is a significant upgrade to the security of WindowsXP.
It's like a flak jacket - it doesn't make you absolutely bullet proof,
but it stops a lot of the small caliber stuff. :-) There are other
features, but I regard security as the compelling one. Most of the
security issues addressed by SP2 will have already been handled by the
expert user with add-on firewalls, third party email packages, and a
replacement browser like Mozilla Firefox (highly recommended! I
switched a few months ago and I find it to be superior in every way.
YMMV).

For a naked XP system with an internet connection, SP2 is a very
important upgrade, but it is not trivial. You should definitely read
*all* the information at the above link before upgrading, but my
personal opinion is that you should upgrade when it is convenient.
Backup your system first!

There is a list of over 200 applications, including quite a few of M$
themselves, that stop running or show severe problems after updating to SP2!

Meindert

On Fri, 27 Aug 2004 22:49:39 +0200, "Meindert Sprang"
wrote:

There is a list of over 200 applications, including quite a few of M$
themselves, that stop running or show severe problems after updating to SP2!

That's why I said to read up first. The apps are listed in the link I
provided. But most of those apps stop working because of the
firewall, as they should. The fix is simple, tell the firewall to let
them work. A few are more serious. As I said, it's not a trivial
upgrade. Read the docs first.
__________________________________________________ __________
Glen "Wiley" Wilson usenet1 SPAMNIX at worldwidewiley dot com
To reply, lose the capitals and do the obvious.

Take a look at cpRepeater, my NMEA data integrator, repeater, and
logger at http://www.worldwidewiley.com/

Actually SP2 already has major security problems. Specifically, SP2
contains a feature that allows the an attacker to turn off your firewall
but spoof the Windows Security Center to report that all is well and that
the firewall is still active when in fact it has been disabled and your
system has been compromised.

To quote eWeek.com, "it may not be a security hole but rather a crater."
Don't take my word for it. Have a look he
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1639456,00.asp
or he
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1639276,00.asp

I would agree with you that the best option is to purchase a firewall and
block off all unneed ports. Microsoft has a terrible security track record
and from all indications, SP2 is going to continue the tradition.

Glen "Wiley" Wilson wrote:

Just a word about my experieces with XP SP2. I've had occasion to
perform several upgrades so far on my own and customer systems. The
installed nav software was CAPN Voyager 6.1.3, Maptech Ocean Navigator
5.04, OziExplorer 3.95.3e, and several releases of my own software
(cpRepeater).

So far, I have no problems to report. The new, somewhat more
effective Windows firewall initially blocks network traffic from
cpRepeater in networking mode, as it should. It only takes a single
mouse click the first time you start cpRepeater to unblock its network
traffic. Anybody that has ever used an effective software firewall
like ZoneAlarm will instantly recognize the process.

For more information about SP2 , check out:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...r=windowsxpsp2

Briefly, SP2 is a significant upgrade to the security of WindowsXP.
It's like a flak jacket - it doesn't make you absolutely bullet proof,
but it stops a lot of the small caliber stuff. :-) There are other
features, but I regard security as the compelling one. Most of the
security issues addressed by SP2 will have already been handled by the
expert user with add-on firewalls, third party email packages, and a
replacement browser like Mozilla Firefox (highly recommended! I
switched a few months ago and I find it to be superior in every way.
YMMV).

For a naked XP system with an internet connection, SP2 is a very
important upgrade, but it is not trivial. You should definitely read
*all* the information at the above link before upgrading, but my
personal opinion is that you should upgrade when it is convenient.
Backup your system first!

If I happen to uncover any problems with nav software and SP2, I'll
post it here, but the original distirbutors of the software are the
authoritative source.

Glen
__________________________________________________ __________
Glen "Wiley" Wilson usenet1 SPAMNIX at worldwidewiley dot com
To reply, lose the capitals and do the obvious.

Take a look at cpRepeater, my NMEA data integrator, repeater, and
logger at http://www.worldwidewiley.com/

On Fri, 27 Aug 2004 19:52:30 -0400, Lisa Collins
wrote:

Actually SP2 already has major security problems. Specifically, SP2
contains a feature that allows the an attacker to turn off your firewall
but spoof the Windows Security Center to report that all is well and that
the firewall is still active when in fact it has been disabled and your
system has been compromised.

To quote eWeek.com, "it may not be a security hole but rather a crater."
Don't take my word for it. Have a look he
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1639456,00.asp
or he
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1639276,00.asp

I would agree with you that the best option is to purchase a firewall and
block off all unneed ports. Microsoft has a terrible security track record
and from all indications, SP2 is going to continue the tradition.

Thanks for posting that. I was already aware of it, but it's good
info, if a bit hysterical (not you, the eweek article). Yup, SP2 has
security problems. So will SP3. Windows is a fundamentally
unsecure platform from the architecture to the implementation and will
remain so for the near future. Even the new improved firewall is not
so hot compared to freely available and free third party software.
But SP2 is an improvement over the naked XP system I referenced.

In my mind this particular potential exploit is serious, but not a
deal breaker. To use it, you have to get an executable onto the users
system in the first place. Windows being what it is, you can do just
about anything once you get an executable on the system. SP2 offers
some protection against that happening in the first place. The last
paragraph of the eveek article you cite says:

"Do we think that end users should upgrade? Yes, Windows XP Service
Pack 2 is a must do, especially for end users. However, we would
recommend users not take the WSC as gospel, If you use an antivirus,
or 3rd party firewall, look at their status panels as a sanity check.
Keep your Antivirus, windows, firewall updates current, and most of
all, be very careful of what you run on your system. "

They actually are higher on this thing than I am. I agree with you
that a first class hardware/software firewall is a better way to go.
Getting away from Outlook and IE is even better. I'm not sure how to
mandate that, though.

Just to be clear to everyone, I don't have a horse in this race. I
think Windows sucks. But I know that anyone with autoupdate on will
be on SP2 soon. The almost universal recommendation in the press is
to install it, so I think it's a fact of life.

My only real purpose was to try out some programs r.b.e. users care
about and let them know how it works. I should have stuck with that
and left my editorial opinions for another thread. My bad.
__________________________________________________ __________
Glen "Wiley" Wilson usenet1 SPAMNIX at world wide wiley dot com
To reply, lose the capitals and do the obvious.

Take a look at cpRepeater, my NMEA data integrator, repeater, and
logger at http://www.worldwidewiley.com/

"Glen "Wiley" Wilson" wrote in
message ...
But SP2 is an improvement over the naked XP system I referenced.

The naked XP, without SP1 was even more crap. What do you think XP stands
for?
Windows eXPerimental.....

:-)
Meindert

On Sat, 28 Aug 2004 07:20:00 +0200, "Meindert Sprang"
wrote:

"Glen "Wiley" Wilson" wrote in
message ...
But SP2 is an improvement over the naked XP system I referenced.

The naked XP, without SP1 was even more crap. What do you think XP stands
for?
Windows eXPerimental.....

:-)
Meindert

Yeah. By naked, I really meant systems without a solid (i.e.
non-Microsoft) firewall and up to date anti-virus package. Which
doesn't make what you say untrue. I have to say though, as Windows
sytems go, my personal experience has been that XP is head and
shoulders above the rest as far as stability goes. I'm almost happy
with it, on that score. It's still a pig with a clunky interface,
though.

As for virus susceptibility, take a linux system, chmod 777
everything, and set the default creation permissions likewise. Just
for fun, have everyone run as root full time. That's your basic
Windows architecture, right? Then spend the rest of your life putting
band-aids on the severed limbs that result. Great fun. And we
haven't even touched Windows networking yet...
__________________________________________________ __________
Glen "Wiley" Wilson usenet1 SPAMNIX at world wide wiley dot com
To reply, lose the capitals and do the obvious.

Take a look at cpRepeater, my NMEA data integrator, repeater, and
logger at http://www.worldwidewiley.com/

"Glen "Wiley" Wilson" wrote in
message ...
Yeah. By naked, I really meant systems without a solid (i.e.
non-Microsoft) firewall and up to date anti-virus package. Which
doesn't make what you say untrue. I have to say though, as Windows
sytems go, my personal experience has been that XP is head and
shoulders above the rest as far as stability goes. I'm almost happy
with it, on that score. It's still a pig with a clunky interface,
though.

That's why I stick to Win2000 on my desktop and Linux for my server. I've
heard too many horrorstories, especially when XP just came out. I know a lot
has been fixed, but still......

Meindert

In article ,
"Meindert Sprang" wrote:

"Glen "Wiley" Wilson" wrote in
message ...
But SP2 is an improvement over the naked XP system I referenced.

The naked XP, without SP1 was even more crap. What do you think XP stands
for?
Windows eXPerimental.....

:-)
Meindert


What does Windows XP stand for???

Windows Xtra Pain

"Lisa Collins" wrote in message
...
Actually SP2 already has major security problems. Specifically, SP2
contains a feature that allows the an attacker to turn off your firewall
but spoof the Windows Security Center to report that all is well and that
the firewall is still active when in fact it has been disabled and your
system has been compromised.

Why doesn't this surprise me......

Meindert