Service Pack 2Follow

Yesterday my computer crashed and windows stopped operating. I eventually did a system recovery. Since that, my computer hasn't been operating as well as it had been. Seems like it ran great when I installed the Service Pack 2 (stopped all popups!).

Is there a way to check if it is still on my computer?

Thanks

Whoops... I didn't answer your question.

Check under add/remove programs. It should be on the list if SP2 is installed.

If you don't like pop-ups you should use the browser at www.firefox.com. It blocks pop-ups and has more security then IE ever dreamed of having. Its also free and works pretty much just like IE.

aye. i've noticed this trend as well. On clean machines, even after installing software they run just fine. But if you upgrade a machine with stuff already installed on it to sp2 it freaks out more often. :)

that said, i'm running sp2 on at least 20 machines between here and the office without issues.

Stopzilla is an amazing pop-up blocker imo. I use it and I never have pop-ups.

well we have two machines...

my taller half had no issues with SP2.. my computer on the other hand.. =_=.

seems as though your mileage may vary becasue I've yet to hear of a common thread between any of the machines that have issues with SP2.

Thanks for all the replies :)

Lots of nifty stuff!

I don't have any anti-spyware nor is the computer "clean." I don't visit too many websites (this is visited more often than anything else :P) but I do get popups....MOSTLY from THIS SITE!!! >.<

With the service pack 2 the popups are blocked with a small banner notice at the top of the screen (you know, just in case I decide I WANT to see them).

Anyways, I guess I should look into getting some anti-spyware or something... I'm not very computer literate...actually, I've learned almost everything from the helpful posters here ^.^

Thanks again!

btw, I have SP2 again and am HAPPY! My computer seems to have crashed due to a funky program that was recently installed (Dragon Naturally Speaking was installed and immediately after I had problems with being able to "Restart" and "Turn Off" - that's why I blame it :P). The program is now off, SP2 is installed, and everything is peachy again!

Mmmm fun have installed SP2 on 400+ machines and never had one crash from it, and 99% of them where at least 1 year old and sitting in a work area, and having several 3rd party softwares installed. If Sp2 makes your machine unstable then your machine is not up to XP min specs or you have someting already wrong with your OS. eather a virus or spyware. Just becouse you don't like Microsoft don't tell people not to update there OS software there are several fixs in Sp2 that can keep your machine from getting jacked.

And just so you do know if your machine came with XP then YES install Sp2. Use the web updater and you will have no problems.

I work on computers everyday and have NEVER seen a machine crash due to SP2. You should always update when they come out.
Not doing the OS updates just puts you at risk for hackers to take your machine from you.

Also run some form of ad-ware removal and blocker. As you should also use some form of current anti virus program.

To listen to someone who says you need none of the above would be silly. But then again some people still think its ok to drink and drive and have unprotected sex.

The main issue for [Win XP] SP2 is that there are a lot of intermediate files being overwritten (.DLLs etc) that indirectly influence already installed programs. The problem: application "X" modifies some Windows APIs by offering a specific version .DLL of the same name, but different date/revision level as a Windows-supplied .DLL. Now the service pack overwrites with newer versions. The newer versions may support the old functionality, but might introduce side effects.

I like the advice of building a drive image by layers, with OS, then all the service packs, then video, audio, LAN, USB; next do a backup of registry settings by using the "System Restore" option "Create a restore point" from
Programs: Accessories: System: System Restore

Install EQ 2 if not already; if it was already installed but you want a clean system, you can write it temporarily to another hard disk or volume with at least 5.0 GB of extra space available by
explorer: drive C: program files: Yes you want to see the contents: Sony: rt-click: Copy: choose new drive, make a folder, rt-click Paste and wait 5-8 minutes for the copy.

Now when copying back,
copy the "Sony" directory, paste to c:\program files
Then RUN REGEDIT
notice a tree of strange names
click HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
click SOFTWARE
on the right where it says
Default REG_SZ (value not set)
put your mouse pointer on white space below that line
right-click
choose NEW KEY
and since I am at work the exact text here I'll have to add later, think its
"Sony Online Entertainment: EverQuest 2"
it gets a key named "1.00.00"

You can verify the correct name and spelling on your already installed version by opening regedit and navigating to the same place.

Anyway, installing from CD puts the unpatched EQ2 and station launchpad under C:\program files\sony
a shortcut on your desktop, and the above two registry keys. Thats it; thus, if you ever want to start fresh, you can copy the already patched and up to date EQ2 someplace with 5 GB or more of free space, then deltree program files, deltree windows, and reinstall. I wouldnt deltree windows except for a very mangled system, and I'd first make a DOS driver diskette with CD-ROM drivers and MSCDEX so as to be able to load my OS again. Actually, for Win 98/98SE/ME I just copy the files from CD from the \win9x directory to a new folder, then I can run setup from hard disk without needing the CD. It doesn't work if you have XP; you must install XP from the CD or a Norton Ghost image.

Now add DirectX 9.0c (so that audio and video were already installed, since either might have older files that if installed after DirectX could walk on the newer DX versions).

I did the following on my borderline system and it removed a number of lockups; at 33.6 Kbps I wasn't keen on having to re-download all the EQ 2 updates. That was my workaround.

Once more for emphasis, I wouldn't flat-line your system until I've given up; and its a worst case way to do things. I certainly would start by trying to remove spybots
I like SPYBOT S&D v1.3; its freeware and not adware. The person who does it could use support, as its a labor of love, but bottom line it works and works well.

Any other advice I'll have to save for some other time.

This becomes much more obvious if you run a mix of old and new software on the machine; an older MS-Office 97 or 2000, or say Roxio EZ-CD, are examples where updates are needed for compatibility purposes. Actually, Roxio EZ-CD fights Office XP; update both and they stop fighting. The fight is simply each overwriting shared DLLs with their own

adjustment to my REGEDIT instructions, now that I have a PC with EQ2 on it:

in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
SOFTWARE
new key: "Sony Online Entertainment"
new key: "EverQuest II" <- note capitalization
new key: "1.00.00"

now you can make a shortcut on the desktop to
c:\program files\sony\EverQuest II\EQ2.exe

in XP I set compatibility to "Windows 98/Windows ME"

-----
and the other thing in my mind:

I've seldom had to flat-line a system, except when changing hardware (motherboards) on Windows 2000 or Win NT 4 systems. For those, I'd have to nuke the system with every motherboard change. I also detest NTFS, which is nifty security vs a kid with a DOS boot disk getting around your system log-on password, but zero protection vs net hacks (your OS s already running) and is simply in the way for changing motherboards often. Realize, NTFS is not just "high security", it and Win 2000 not letting you change motherboard are excellent incentives to buy a new OS with every PC, even if that "new PC" is $150 in upgrade components... good for the vendors, good for Microsoft, lousy for you.

My background is managing a test lab for PCI bus products, and we changed motherboards every 3 days. I saw a lot of motherboards... plus maybe 15,000 systems by phone, 1000 on field service calls, 100 built by my hands for others, and 17 or so for personal use. I guess thats my CV.

And last tip: Buy "boxed" Intel CPUs; for around $10 more you get a good heat sink/fan assy, a 3 year warranty good internationally, and probably isn't a customer return. I'm cheap, but risk averse.

And for monitors: I know inver shadow mask isnt the top gaming screen technology, but it IS the best technology for eye relief for programming and word processing. I figure I'd do best to plan on some sort of work, if only by web. I have 2 other monitors, but the Hitachi monitor is by far the best. Since we have a newborn baby, getting low radiation monitor was not "optional".

Good luck
Glenn Sanders aka DobriyIvan

USA by birth, Bulgarian by choice

Hello:

The answer for if you'd lose your hard disk contents by changing motherboards depends on 3 things:
1) If your Operating System was purchased seperately from your computer or if its on a bundle CD which will look for the Compaq BIOS identification before allowing reinstall
2) If you are running NTFS instead of FAT32 (open My Computer (or Windows Explorer), right click the drive letter, choose "Properties", look at "File System").
3) NTFS is only used by Windows XP, Win 2000, or Win NT4. You don't have NT4, it doesnt run EQ II. If you have a plug and play OS (Win 98, 98 Second Edition, or Millenium) I'd say no problem, but I notice DirectX 9.0c really does seem to freeze on Win Me (9.0b ran fine), so I just upgraded to Win XP myself for my PC #2. I just won't convert to NTFS.

If you do have NTFS, the concern is the drive isn't readable if the OS isnt stable, although you could make a "system recovery disk" to try to get in. Here's how:
Start: All Programs: Accessories: System Tools: Backup:
(next): "Backup Files and Settings": "All information on this computer" (starts by making a boot diskette to unlock *your* NTFS drive)

After that your drive contents are at least accessable.
However, if you have a DVD or CD writer and a huge pile of blank media (DVD-recordable [many formats to choose from] or CD-R) you could then start backing up with no further software purchases, assuming you run Windows XP. For the older OS, Win ME or 98 and it reconfigures on the fly to the new motherboard, which lead to reduced continueing revenue for MS so after that it was removed, and Win 2000 you're going to have to nuke your drive for sure. Win XP I can't say 100%, but since it was modified from Win 2000 I'd be pessimistic if you didn't backup, and then optimistic that maybe it's your week and you dont have to reconstruct from your backup (which would not be able to use your old \Windows directory anyhow).

This said, you can find "OEM" copies of Win XP in the $95 price range, although technically they are supposed to be sold only with a "new system", which by definition is [any motherboard + any hard disk], on the theory that these two things create a unique PC. Its a grey area at best, but its also become standard operating procedure in certain circles ;)

If it makes you feel any better, Dell IBM HP etc pay about $50 to $65 per license for their OS in the bundle, which compared to full price retail makes their products very price competitive vs do-it-yourself. But to be fair, they buy in 10-25K copies at a time, the run rate for each model with a unique SKU (model number+software mix). It's been that way for the past 10 years; in exchange for the steep discount they marry the all_your_software_from_1_restore_CD to their BIOS identifier, so you aren't even able to change motherboards within the same company let alone anyone else. A pity.

And finally, XP used to have a limited number of times the hardware could change before it locked you down and you were encouraged to call a MS hotline number, which basically was to intimidate you into paying for another CD. They figured nobody really changes their hardware that often save a pirate (or a gamer).

Sorry for the delay.