SP2 Available For Download.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...BE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A&displaylang=en

 

What build was that uxtheme file Halo?

Mine is RC2. I know there was another build after that.

 

I have SP1 :|
Should i download it?

 

Do you have your data backed up?
Do you have a legit copy of Windows?

If you answered yes to both, I would install it, IMO.

 

Yes and Yes.

 

Thank ya!

 

DO NOT DOWNLOAD IF YOU ARE UPDATING JUST ONE COMPUTER: A smaller, more appropriate download will be available soon on Windows Update. To receive this download, turn on the Automatic Updates feature in Windows XP to receive an optimized download of SP2.

 

Translation:

This not for dial up or slow ISDN/DSL users.

 

Thanks Yukon. Will do.

 

Done.
Service Pack 2 Installed.

 

So what's soo great about SP2?

 

I'm already using SlimBrowser which comes with a good popup blocker. Does this mean I should go back to using IE6 after installing SP2?

 

IE6 SP2 has some nice performance increases, too.

K-Meleon is faster than any browser I've seen so far though.

I tested K-Meleon, Firefox, IE6 SP2 (rc2), and Opera.

The order from fastest to slowest:

K-Meleon (by a nice margin)
IE6 SP2
Firefox
Opera (soo damn slow)

 

Yea, but what kinda tech savy person would even think about using IE anymore. It still has more holes than my socks

Bill ignored my bug report that adcised him to include a link to Opera on the desktop and remove IE

 

Something is up there mate. Opera is pretty much recognised as the quickest browser you can use. Even the Firefox fanbois admit it.

And its so much faster than IE that i can fathom how you can even think IE is faster.

Firefox is also muc much faster than IE without doubt

I cant stand to use IE after using Opera and Firefox, its just too slow to use

And i never heard of K-Melon, is that one of those IE skin things? IE all the holes and leaks of IE but with a pretty skin?

 

Just tried K-meleon. It's fast all right.

 

As a question, is this any different to the RC I installed a couple of weeks ago? Should I install it again in that case?

And yes... Opera is supposed to be the official fastest browser in most tests on average (different soft/hardware configs)... as it is w3c valid and supports invalid HTML to the same degree that other competing browsers do. i.e. other browsers might be faster, but arn't as tolerant to invalid HTML. IE and Opera are in the same "zone" as far as thats concerned, but firefox isnt (but it will be once its fully developed)

 

heh, no.

Its based off of mozilla.

 

Opera is not faster than IE6 SP2.

For you to say it is, what tests are you using?


Here is a javascript test, lower is better:

Average time: 935ms --K-Meleon
Average time: 1136ms --IE6 SP2
Average time: 1176ms --FF 0.9.2
Average time: 1778ms --Opera 7.51

http://www.world-direct.com/mozilla/dhtml/funo/jsTimeTest.htm

Try K-Meleon for a few days, then go back to Opera and tell me which is faster.

 

LOL, how does this have anything to do with an SP 2 download coming out?

 

tested great at the scanit browser security test also.

 

Well I mentioned performance enhancements to IE in SP2 and someone challenged me

 

lol.. k-meleon is faster than ie...

 

lol i downloaded it but i think i am gonna uninstall it and wait for the good 1 because i am only puttin it on one computer.

 

wut is the name of the file i have to open to uninstall sp2?

 

It has issues. The taskbar and start menu aren't changing.

 

Got it. Interestingly enough you cannot have a uxtheme.dll file resing in C:\windows, even though thats not its native directory.

Deleted the working copy I was using, problem solved.

 

Ok i will bite.

1. Javascript is not conducive of an accurate browser speed test. I surf without Javacript on due to all the nast bugs it has. Dont beleive me, go do this Javascript test, IE comes of as the slowest by far on this one :- http://www.24fun.com/downloadcenter/benchjs/benchjs.html

Opera Time:- 5.87 Sec
IE 6 SP2 Time - 12.1 Sec

2. I have being being a beta tester on SP2 for over a year now, i ahve had a fair bit of experience with SP2, on about 40 different test
PC's in our Office labs.

3. Both Opera's and Firefoxs Page rendering speed is lightning quick compared to IE's outdated render engine. IE has to load everything up before it even thinks about displaying, this means for us people without 2Mb lines, with Opera and Firefox we can be reading the page many time before IE finally gets it loaded up.

4. Check out some Download tests, Opera and Firefox both have build in Download managers which when you specify a download connect a certain nuber of times to that file and download it in parts, like many download maangers such as flashget, getright gozilla. Result? Much faster downloads.


Serious mate, My company is an IE gold Partner, we have been working personally wth MS for 10 years, i have visitied their Redmod and London Labs, i ahve tested so much of their software over the years, and the only piece that i detest is IE. Im not an MS basher obviously, iw ould be out of a job if i were

I know i prolly cant convince you IE isnt the best thing since sliced bread, but its seriously bad. To sum up my thoughs of IE:-

The slowest Browser by far in pagerendering downloads, going back and forwards pages.

The only browser that is "Hijacked" by malicious toolbars, diallers, spywares.

User doubt the memory of Opera and about 1.5 times Firefox

Is so full of security holes many Governments are reccomending not to user it. Check www.Secunia.com it has 10 outstanding Critical security flaws that have not been patched and can allow REMOTE CONTROL of your PC

Its Cache implimentation is inefficicient compared to the newer browsers, it has a poior indexing system meaning it is the slowest browser by far at loading images from cache (m ore important on slower machines granted)

/Rant off

Seriously mate, i cant see how you can defend IE's speed in this day and age, your the first person i have come across who things IE is faster than Firefox or Opera. most people complain about those two not loading up some pages, but never have i seen speed mentioned.

 

grrr cant edit for spelling sorry. Silly 3 minute thing

 

grr and again

Im Dyslexic, so i appologise for my spelling in that rant, not my fault if MajorGeeks discriminates against Dyslexic people

 

Well, as we all should know, benchmarks don't equate to real life performance

 

/yawn

Want to know what I heard?

Brag, brag, brag.

I'm this, I'm that.

Then you delve into IE security.

Now that one is funny, when I posted a security test that showed IE6 SP2 being insecure, and the popup blocker is only masking a serious flaw. Probably more than one.

So where are you coming from?

 

I have an actual SP2 question. Should I DL it now, or hold out to see if it has any issues first?

 

Some people are having issues. You might want to wait a bit.

So far that I've seen here:

ZA wouldn't install on an AMD64 system.

A server was fubarred.


At work:

We had to uninstall Sygate on a customer's machine to be able to boot again in normal mode.


Not many yet, but SP2 hasn't become all the rage, just yet.

 

One last thing Nirvana.

From your own mouth you said javascript tests are not a good test.

Yous shows IE slower. Mine shows it faster.

So obviously the tests aren't accurate and according to you, because you have SOOO much experience with MS products because of your company, what I say doesn't matter.

So we might as well drop it.

As for crap like this:

You have no business saying crap like that. Taking a potshot at me because I said IE was faster than Opera (and it is, in my test), is just wrong. I'm a huge advocate of not using IE, I HATE IE. Don't insult me, because you felt the need to vent.

K-Meleon is my browser. In my experience and usage, it is way faster than everything else I've tried, Firefox 0.9.2-3, Opera 7.51 and IE6SP2.

 

Whoa Read it again! I never once insulted you! I was insulting IE.

If i missinterptreted you im sorry, complex sentances get the better of me sometimes, i cant help it!

I wasnt bragging, lots of people here are very PC illiterate, and i always try to give them a bit of confidence that i know what im talking about. And on this topic i ahve spent a long time in tests.

Not once did i insult you, nor even think of instulting you, sure it was a rant against IE. Dont take it personally, it wasnt meant that way, and yes i know my writing is bad, and sometimes i ahve problems articulating myself as other people do.

If you want to instist it was a personal attack. *shrugs*

 

A rant against IE, or a rant against me?

Hmmm...

Eh, who cares.

 

and we now return this thread to talking about SP2..
Thank you.

 

Can someone without an Athlon XP 64 please test and see if MS implimented DEP Software? It wasn't included in the last few builds.

The only way i can remember to check is pull up your CPU in the device manger and see if its enabled or even mentioned. I'd be interested if this works without tying up CPU time.

Ta

 

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=39259

Bottom of the first page of this forum.

 

HALO write:

another think to be aware of is that SP2 limits your Max Connections in TCPIP ... just check you event log for tcpip and event 4226 if you use p2p you will most likely have experienced some slowness.

they is already a patch to fix this you can return has many connection you want.....

 

For anyone wondering, the SP2 slipstream procedure is the same as SP1, and you can upgrade from a new retail install or a SP1 install.

However, there are more things you can do with a SP2 slipstreamed install : http://unattended.msfn.org/xp/sp2changes.htm

 

Just doing a VPC test install of the slipstreamed SP2 I just made, seems to be going ok so far.

As for full time running... SP2 seems to be working fine for me on my main machine, no problems as of yet, but I'm all backed up just in case