Beware of Microsoft and XP Service Pack 2

Danger Will Robinson, Danger Will Robinson! We gots trouble right here in Redmond City. If you are running Windows XP, be aware that installing Service Pack 2 could cause problems with proprietary browsers (Yahoo, AOL, etc.) as well as some firewall and other security applications.

Both my ISP and Information Week have informed me that Windows XP Service Pack 2 may cause problems with some of my applications. My ISP tells me I have to upgrade their proprietary software before installing the Windows XP Service Pack 2 to avoid problems. A recent article in Information Week tells us that as many as ten percent (yes, that's one in ten computers) may encounter problems with some of their applications as a result of installing the service pack.

Part of this is due to the wide variety of security applications, many of whom have proprietary and non-standard solutions, many people use to stop spam, spyware and provide network security. Microsoft made some serious changes in an effort to upgrade security in this latest service pack and it is causing lots of problems.