I HATE YOU XP SERVICE PACK 2!!!!!

[billy_wires]

Wow.

I was going to tell you to give Macs another chance, as they have improved GREATLY since 1993, but appearently you're too closed-minded to accept that fact.

Oh well...

What are they at now, the G5? I heard it has 2 processors and is really fast, as well as does your dishes, homework, and cleans your house. But how is it on stability? What about for gaming and video editing (I know adobe releases mac versions of their products, but do they work better/faster than they do on a windows pc)? I haven't used a mac in ages (This sounds kind of like an introduction to an informertial, but oh well).

[trythil]

Wow.

I was going to tell you to give Macs another chance, as they have improved GREATLY since 1993, but appearently you're too closed-minded to accept that fact.

Oh well...

What are they at now, the G5? I heard it has 2 processors and is really fast, as well as does your dishes, homework, and cleans your house. But how is it on stability? What about for gaming and video editing (I know adobe releases mac versions of their products, but do they work better/faster than they do on a windows pc)? I haven't used a mac in ages (This sounds kind of like an introduction to an informertial, but oh well).

A dual G5 setup is pretty nice. I'm not going to get into an AthlonXP|Athlon64/P4/G5 comparison, because I've used all three, and with the exception of the P4 (which, as everyone knows, is crap), they work pretty well for me.

While stability depends a lot upon the hardware, it depends a lot upon the software as well. Mac OS X, from what I've done with it*, is rock-solid, and is a vast improvement over the previous Mac OS iterations.

After Effects seems to run nicely on OS X. I haven't tried Premiere yet.
I don't do much in the way of gaming, so I can't really provide any answers there.

* Simultaneous After Effects and Final Cut Pro work, programming, stress-testing for the fun of it.

[XStylus]

SP2 gave me some probs too. It slowed down my comp more and more until it took anywhere from one to twelve hours to start up. And then I could hardly do anything once it did. And I couldn't even reformat, because the reformat always froze. So I had to take it in to get repaired, and even the repair guy couldn't fix it so he had to call the manufacturers of the HDD and have them help.

But I know it doesn't cause most people probs.

I've never gotten any windows updates since I got it fixed, and my comp runs fine... except for that time when lightning fried my sound card and screwed up my comp.

SP2 will cause your hair to fall out. It will cause babies to drop their lollypops. It will cause children to grow hair on their palms. It will cause pigs to fly. It will cause dogs and cats to live together.

SP2 will do NOTHING to your computer except:
a) Install all patches for all known vulnerabilities to date
b) Install new TCPIP drivers to hinder the ability of worms to spread from your machine if you get infected (Side effect: File sharing programs are vastly hindered)
c) Installs DirectX9b
d) Installs Windows Media Player 9
e) Installs a new security center which monitors your firewall (or it's own), your antivirus software, and whether you are allowing it to automatically get updates.

Now... let's analyze your problem, shall we? I work as a computer tech, so I'll treat this in the same way I do at work.

1: "My computer is slowing down and takes 12 hours to boot!"
Hmm. Sounds like a virus, but tell me more.

2: "I tried to reformat, but my computer froze!"
Oog. That's no virus. That sounds like memory, and would be a very good reason why your computer takes 12 hours to boot. It's possible for it to be your hard drive too. Is it making any odd sounds?

Hmm. That's all the info you have me, and already I can tell it's probably a hardware problem, not software. If the guy you took it to didn't have good diagnostic tools and programs to test that theory, then I wouldn't trust taking my computer to him again.

Oh... wait, there's more.

3: "My comp runs fine... except for that time when lightning fried my sound card and screwed up my comp"

I wouldn't trust that computer. Lightning does funky things. It can fry modems, it can fry power supplies, you name it. If it fries your modem, it has a clear path to your PCI chipsets, adjacent cards, and other circuits on your motherboard. Yum. If it fries your power supply, it can trigger a surge to your processor, motherboard, hard drive, CD-ROM drive, you name it. Double yum. I see it all the time too. Sometimes it'll just take out the power supply. Sometimes it'll take other things along with it. But electricity is a funny thing. Things can -seem- to work, but there can be hidden problems which exhibit themselves in strange ways such as... oh, I dunno... taking 12 hours to boot?

[Kalium]

SP2 will do NOTHING to your computer except:
a) Install all patches for all known vulnerabilities to date

What, even the ones MS won't admit to, and the ones they will but thaven't patched?

[XStylus]

When I was ripping under XP2, I kept getting a sort of "warped" look to the rip and getting messages there could be playback problems.

Whatever, XP2 was doing, it cleared up when I removed it, because the rips are beautiful now.

I don't want my computer to be a guinea pig for microsoft.

It could be that the program you're using is doing something SP2 doesn't like. For example, SP2 doesn't like the Divx installer because of some rather unconventional yet crafty methods it uses to prevent thwarting of it's registration authentication to prevent piracy, methods which other programs could exploit as a security vulnerability. Also, certain cracks I know of won't even start under SP2 simply because they were sloppily coded. That's all because of certain changes to the ways certain programs can address memory and execute operations. If the program doesn't work right after installing SP2, then that's because THE PROGRAM WASN'T CODED PROPERLY, not because SP2 is buggy.

I hold no love for Microsoft, but they do hold a valid complaint that when a person codes sloppy software or buggy drivers that crash a lot, Windows ends up taking the blame.

Try a different ripping program. What program were you using?

[Lyrs]

According to this article: http://www.crn.com/sections/breakingnew ... d=46200367

only about 10% of PCs who have patched up had problems of some sort. I have sp2 downloaded and sitting around. I don't usually install any patches until several days if not weeks afterwards to see if any problems arise elsewhere.

I usually update security patches when they come up and deal directly with a process that i use, otherwise i keep my add/remove screen as small as possible. Thus far i haven't had any problem as i usually find a solution online before i install.

Anyway, good luck to your ripping, cutting, and pasting.

[XStylus]

It was a fresh install with SP2, but it screwed up my internet connection/browsing or whatever. I could be there surfing for a few minutes and it would go dead, I'd have to disconnect and make a new connection.

Also got nothing but BSOD's when I installed it on my RAID, so that's no good to me.

SP2 has a lot of new security precautions that can cause havoc if you don't know what you're doing. As a computer repair tech who has to field customer issues all the time, it is a bit of a pain, but surprisingly there have been few as a result of SP2. We're installing it on new computers before they leave the store, and it's done decently. I've come up against a fleet of Toshiba laptops that spontaniously lock up though, but I can't tell if it's because of SP2 or not. Need to do more tests.

As for the BSODs with your RAID, do you have the latest drivers for your RAID? You'll want to install them first, especially if you do a fresh install. I assume you have a slipstreamed copy of WinXP with SP2? When the disc first starts up, there'll be a moment when you'll be able to hit F6 and have it load a driver for your RAID array, SCSI array, or other disc device. Have your drivers on a floppy (it won't read from a CD, unfortunately) and do it that way. See if that helps. Who makes the chipset for your RAID, by the way? If it's Highpoint, get the latest drivers and use that step and it'll almost definitely work. If it's Promise, I don't know if it'll work, but it's worth a try.

[XStylus]

A couple of weeks ago I replaced the memory card and haven't had a single restart since. Problem solved (and fingers still crossed).

Memory is a silent culprit for a lot of computer problems. Few people suspect that memory can and DOES go bad sometimes.

Go to this site:
http://www.memtest86.com/

They have a free program called MemTest that works very good. Let it run through at least one complete cycle. If it passes, your memory is okay. If it comes up with errors, you need to replace your memory. If the program crashes, hangs, or reboots, you've got bad memory. I use that program at work and it's great. It's public domain too.

[XStylus]

SP2 will do NOTHING to your computer except:
a) Install all patches for all known vulnerabilities to date

What, even the ones MS won't admit to, and the ones they will but thaven't patched?

Touche'.

a) SP2 installs all patches for existing vulnerabilities for which they previously issued a patch for.

There. That's better.

[sysKin]

I'd be afraid to install any big service packs on top of a system that has been working for some time. There are just too many drivers, registry entries, and other settings, that can get broken in the process. It's simply a matter of scale, I just don't believe that all programs and all drivers can deal with unexpected changes to the system. And I don't believe that a service pack can flawlessly upgrade all possible configurations and settings.

I'm pretty sure SP2 will turn out to be really safe, provided you install it on a fresh system. As with all big updates so far.

I personally am very happy with SP2, mostly because it happens to other people (I'm a w2k user).

Radek