well i have a question i'm not sure if i can ask this but i will give a try. will window xp sp2 work with illegal serial numbers?

again i do not know if these question is allowed.

Quote from elyrly : well i have a question i'm not sure if i can ask this but i will give a try. will window xp sp2 work with illegal serial numbers? again i do not know if these question is allowed.

My co-worker told me that he read somewhere that they are allowing sp2 to be downloaded with illegal serial numbers due to the number of viruses affecting xp. This was awhile back and I'm not sure if his source is a guarentee.

Quote from Scratchy : My co-worker told me that he read somewhere that they are allowing sp2 to be downloaded with illegal serial numbers due to the number of viruses affecting xp. This was awhile back and I'm not sure if his source is a guarentee.

They did say that and then they rescinded it and said they would not let illegal copies of XP download it. Their final stance is up in the air though. Honestly though, if you can get it on CD I am sure you can download standalone copies, so it probably won't stop anyone.

From what I've seen on other forums, if your pc has SP1 on it and is activated or doesnt need to be, it will work fine.
brbubba is right, they initially said it wouldnt work, but that was most likely a scare tatic.
Currently SP2 has just shipped to manufacturers and will be availible for home users through WindowsUpdate.com very soon, although it of course has already leaked. lol

Wondering if anyone has seen it installed and what do they think? Read that it will have XP Firewall enabled automatically, just have to disable, and also it will URGE you to have auto update enabled. If anyone seen installed which version/release did they see? Thanx!

Quote from brbubba : They did say that and then they rescinded it and said they would not let illegal copies of XP download it. Their final stance is up in the air though. Honestly though, if you can get it on CD I am sure you can download standalone copies, so it probably won't stop anyone.

Basically,

Buy a Legit Copy or you Screwed!

Quote from vodreaux : Basically, Buy a Legit Copy or you Screwed!

Naw, definitely not the case.

ok, Ive seen and used all the Release Candidates (1&2) as well as the Final RTM (build 2180) of SP2. It will work on illegitamate copies of XP, I shouldnt have to tell anyone this, just google it. I have installed the 266mb pack, it hurt performance though, I then slipstreamed it into my copy of XP, and its great. Slipstreaming is very easy btw.

SP2, I highly reccomend, The integrated "information bar" in IE, the worst browser anyway, really will help reduce Spyware infections. The Security Center is fool proof, assuming you can read, it clearly distinguishes AntiVirus Software and Firewall Software, too many people dont even know firewalls exist. (Hardware Firewalls are the way to go though imo). Plus it is very annoying if you do not enable automatic updates, again I meet too many people who do not know about windowsupdate.com.

In short SP2 will enhance XP, anyone with XP should get it. Just watch out for incompatibilty with Software. But I really do not care too much because Im currently edumactin myself about switching to Linux, still gotta use Windoz for Photo And Gaming.

Thanx for the info.

I, personally, am not gonna touch this one for many months. I don't like some of the stuff I've been reading about it. And I have replacement apps for most of the security issues without having to castrate my environment with their uber patch.

Quote from Digerati : ok, Ive seen and used all the Release Candidates (1&2) as well as the Final RTM (build 2180) of SP2. It will work on illegitamate copies of XP, I shouldnt have to tell anyone this, just google it. I have installed the 266mb pack, it hurt performance though, I then slipstreamed it into my copy of XP, and its great. Slipstreaming is very easy btw. SP2, I highly reccomend, The integrated "information bar" in IE, the worst browser anyway, really will help reduce Spyware infections. The Security Center is fool proof, assuming you can read, it clearly distinguishes AntiVirus Software and Firewall Software, too many people dont even know firewalls exist. (Hardware Firewalls are the way to go though imo). Plus it is very annoying if you do not enable automatic updates, again I meet too many people who do not know about windowsupdate.com. In short SP2 will enhance XP, anyone with XP should get it. Just watch out for incompatibilty with Software. But I really do not care too much because Im currently edumactin myself about switching to Linux, still gotta use Windoz for Photo And Gaming.

That's my sister. She didn't even have SP1 installed when I looked at her system. In addition her Norton had expired in 2003!!!

Quote from brbubba : That's my sister. She didn't even have SP1 installed when I looked at her system. In addition her Norton had expired in 2003!!!

when I used to work for the college here, there were kids who would bring their systems in (in 2003 - 2004) with Norton and Mcafee that expired in 2001 or EARLIER!

Digerati that was an excellent post. I generally agree with Baskins on this one though. I did install it on my spare 400SC to test it out and see how performance was affected, and to see what SP2 was all about. The biggest difference that I could see was the new security center, the pop-up blocker which is now integrated into IE (which I never use anyway, except to update Windows), and the fact that it defaults to turn on to accept invites for remote assistence (which I promptly turned off).

I don't have any critical aps running on this machine, but it seems to work fine. I could not tell any discernible difference in performance with the service pack installed, and the only compatibility issue that I came across was with StyleXP [softpedia.com], which was expected anyway.

For most home users, I would highly recommend SP2 with all of the security features turned on. Too many people just don't know how to secure their machines. However, for power users, I would still wait a bit, as most of us know how to secure our machines anyway.

yay for more useless firewalls.