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XP SP2 useful!!?!

A

ashish

New Member
so now that SP2 is out and installed on the PC's of most of the people... i just want to ask one question...... did you ppl find the security centre feature useful?

i turned it off right away.. or tried to.. it kept on giving me turn it back on notification for a long time...... finally took me two days to figure out how to turn it off.. :)

i presonally saw no use for the antivirus and firewall (which by the way is not all the great)... i have got norton for that and as far as the pop-up blocker is concerend..... there are many others out there.... ok google has got privacy problems.... but there are some free ones there as well.....

just cant figure out the need for making such a move by MS..... most of the people who are already on the net have got soem sort of pop-up blocker and anti-virus... and even firewalls.. then wat was the compulsion for this?
 
pssh. obviously you're clearly not thinking enough.

SP2 has been out for ages, and it doesn't take a genius to work out how to get rid of the security centre in 10 minutes.

Just because you saw no use for the security centre, doesn't mean it isn't useful. Perhaps your concept of firewall hasn't matured enough to see that the Windows Firewall would suffice for most home users, and you base your opinion off the eyecandy of other software. Popup blocking was essential due to the security risk - many harmful snipets and programs are able to get through insecure systems without the end user knowing, and those people may not know about such addons like the Google Toolbar.

The idea of the security centre merely helps M$ cover their bases, showing that they are showing concern for security of the home user. It centralises usage of these applications making management of the software easier; again all for the home user.

In short, the security centre is Microsoft's attempt at improving overall Windows security, and obviously you haven't been able to grasp that - although most of us have.
 
I think you were a bit harsh on him. If he had known, he probably wouldn't have posted this.
 
Not true - I have many a friend (who are all computer literate) that were calling the new Security Centre trivial. So I treat everyone who questions it the same way :devious2:
 
tandoc said:
pssh. obviously you're clearly not thinking enough.

SP2 has been out for ages, and it doesn't take a genius to work out how to get rid of the security centre in 10 minutes.

Just because you saw no use for the security centre, doesn't mean it isn't useful. Perhaps your concept of firewall hasn't matured enough to see that the Windows Firewall would suffice for most home users, and you base your opinion off the eyecandy of other software. Popup blocking was essential due to the security risk - many harmful snipets and programs are able to get through insecure systems without the end user knowing, and those people may not know about such addons like the Google Toolbar.

The idea of the security centre merely helps M$ cover their bases, showing that they are showing concern for security of the home user. It centralises usage of these applications making management of the software easier; again all for the home user.

In short, the security centre is Microsoft's attempt at improving overall Windows security, and obviously you haven't been able to grasp that - although most of us have.
Click to expand...


ofcourse everyone is not as well informed about PC's as you are.... but im sure you must have noticed..... in most softwares... there is a option very explicitly to tell you to turn it off at startup...... in security centre that is displayed on the left pane...... so basically it has a interface like a normal window XP window.... useless options on the left... i mean just in control panel.... on the left pane there is stuff like.... switching views etc.. stuff that is not normally useful.... so i just did not look at it....

well i would just like to ask you.. these people who do not know about the google toolbar... they do know that microsoft has got SP2 out.... you mean to say the representatives of MS actually gave a call to inform them that its out and should be installed? :confused:

and i thot that SP2 came out for both professional and home version of XP..... so implaying what you say.. then SP2 is not meant for the professional version... which implies that it shud have been released for just the home edition.... i certainly cant grasp that..... :)
 
Well depends how you look at that security center

Lets take the average american family.
Hotdogs for lunch, hamburgers for dinner, fat asses, stupid like my shoe and they get a computer :p
(no offense to any americans heh)
For them, sexurity center is aight. I mean it has what they require no?

However for computer literate people its not usefull at all.
My router is my firewall
I got google bar
And antivir's are installed

Took me quite a few minutes to figure out how to get rid of those gay warnings every few minutes, but I did it :p Hooray for me :p


you mean to say the representatives of MS actually gave a call to inform them that its out and should be installed?
Click to expand...
Well no. Windows Update notifies the user SP2 is available.
 
what you don't understand is that SP2 isn't merely the Security Centre. It's all the major security and miscellaneous updates released after SP1 rolled into a simple, neat package for people to install all at once. If anything, its probably more inclined for use with XP Pro than Home simply due to the fact that more people use Pro and its used in a lot of work places - which require some sort of security, if not managed by the companies own tech team, then at least to a certain extent by M$.

And it also packs some neat little features that you didn't mention, like its Max 10 Half open connection 'tweak'. Most people don't even have a clue what it does, but its certainly a step foward for m$. It limits the amount of connections trying to be made, reducing the effect of a trojan/virus that is used in a mass DoS attack or something similar.

Do some research before calling something useless, like Linux, now that's useless :devious2:
 
given.. u r absolutely right :) But that still does not address the central issue.... that solution by MS is half-baked.... sure you have blocked the pop ups.. but where do these pop up come from.. from spyware, adware etc.. already on your PC.. so that means that even though it might stop new pop ups what abt the spyware already on ur PC..... it might still sendo u info discreetly....

the whole problem starts with active-x controls in IE.. it allows software to be automatically installed on ur behalf......
 
And that is no one's fault but the end user's. They are the ones who are ultimately responsible for looking after their computers, and people like you shouldn't bitch about how Microsoft is insecure this, or lacks that.

Would you have rather M$ just not include any security improvements at all? If they hadn't, you'd probably be here bitching about a whole lot more than the trivial nature of the security centre. A step in the right direction is better than not taking the step at all.

M$ were completely right in putting the popup blocker in, because prevention is better than cure. The updated security isn't to salvage the fools who don't know how to look after their computers, but to help stop further infections and the like. ActiveX issues in IE have already been addressed.

SP2 was never designed to remove spyware or stop spyware currently on your computer. It's designed to update your current installation of Windows XP with the latest security updates, and to streamline security on the average user's computer. M$'s solution isn't half-baked, its done what it was intended to do.

You can't call SP2 useless at all. You can't even put the blame on M$ for having security holes that are ultimately given the oppurtunity to be taken advantage by the end user. The problem starts with you, me, us, the end users. You can't expect a company to run to your aid whenver something doesn't work or is doing things you don't want it to do.
 
In my defence in my post I was refering to the Security Center itself, not SP2 in whole. :)
 
That Security Center may be bad for you and I, but I'm sure glad it's there. I mean, have you tried convincing a small company to install a firewall? Even when it's Zonealarm FREE - 2mths and still in conference mode!! Nope, any help from MS is better than none.
 
It's useful when I'm too lazy to reboot after installing Sygate Personal Firewall. It's easy to turn off anyway, just lie that you have your own firewall...

I thank Microsoft so much for including a firewall in Windows XP... if you don't have any SPs installed and go on the net without a firewall, you'll get Blaster right in your face.
 
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