I have never installed it on any of my systems, but on the people that have installed it after I told them not to. Usually the computer starts to run slower, stop responding, just like it has a virus.

Usually they have been able to recover the system after un-installing SP2, but at one OS re-install was in order.

I also found this while looking online just now.

SP2 has given me no problems. I got it when it first came out.

At my work when we rolled out SP2 remotely, only a small number of PC'* out of the 4000 we have crashed from the upgrade.

just for your fyi it is general recommond to install on clean machine for the least amount of issues, but most ofthe timeu can do with out do a clean install. U can expect some apps might have to be reinstalled. IF system runs slow after installing the 1st thing to do is to use the clean hd prog on xp. then check for spyware,then virus,check desk for error and last defragment drive. It seems to me that xp after like to have about 1.5 gig extra hd space at alll time anything lower then seems to inpact performance if could found the test that I have done on my machince I would post them. It is about 15-20% performance lost

I have not had any problems with my install of home or xp pro (coke corp.) they are both on the same computer.

What I recomend to keep the computer running smooth and for free legally.
If you do not have a virus scan program try AVG http://www.grisoft.com/doc/1

Spyware:
To protect and remove get Spybot http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/ make sure to update it and then select immunize (When installing it I do not install SD timer I do not like having unnecessary things running)

To keep it clean I use Ad-aware personal about once a month http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

Other:
You can clean the registry with this fix some errors also RegClean http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/fil...id,4666,00.asp

After I run regclean I like to condense the registry with NTREGOPT http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/
They also have a reg backup program you can use, I would recomend backing up the registry with Erunt or Spybot

To optimist boot time run Bootvis If you do the stuff above I recomend a restart before running it. http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/*.../BootVis.shtml

Last use diskclean followed by a defrag

As a general rule of thumb, if you need to do a (re)install of the OS like Custom88 did, you should install the OS, install any available Service Packs, and then any hotfixes that apply BEFORE loading your apps and copying all your data back over. I'm sorry you had some problems with SP2 but I'm glad you got your system back up and going, that'* excellent news. If you're interested in getting a Windows XP cd with SP2 already on it, drop me a PM and I'll fill you in on how to make your own.

Any Service Pack does have the potential to cause problems (NT4 wasn't really "usable" until SP3 was released, and the initial version of SP6 was quickly pulled and SP6a was put in it'* place) so it'* always recommended that you at a minimum back up your critical data (financial info, email, etc) just on the off chance it all goes to pot. In all my years working with computers though I've always found that SP'* do more positive things than negative, and the negatives are usually addressed quite quickly via hotfixes.

Within the IT field the general concensus is that SP2 is a good thing. The additional security it provides over SP1 is ideal for most end users that aren't up to speed on the more common security threats. The Windows Firewall that is included with SP2 was "breaking" a lot of applications because the end users weren't really familiar with how to configure it. It can be turned off, but that'* not really suggested, or it can be "replaced" by a 3rd party app like the ones that come with a lot of anti-virus programs.



Corey (proud holder of many Microsoft certifications (and others) since 1996)