Law Office Computing
December 2004
Winton Woods
Installing Windows XP Service Pack 2
Microsoft recently came out with a major upgrade to Windows XP. It is called SP2 and it is something that you will want to have on your computer if you use Windows XP. Installing the service pack, however, is not without its problems. In the first place, there is a great deal of older software and hardware that’s simply will not work with XP2. Microsoft has put up a list on its web site that allows you to check whether or not your peripherals and software will run on the upgraded version of Windows XP. The second thing that you need to be aware of is that the upgrading your operating system will cause your existing Windows XP install disk to become nonfunctional. That usually is not a problem but if you have a computer crash you will not be able to reinstall Windows XP from your desk. If you don’t have a functional backup you will be in a complicated situation that will require consultation with the support people at Microsoft. That is not a consummation devoutly to be wished, and you are better of protecting yourself in advance by having a fully functional backup of your computer. Finally make sure that you have at least 500MB of RAM installed. SP2 seems to use more RAM memory and certainly will operate more smoothly when you add more RAM.
There are numerous backup programs including the one that is built into a Windows XP. Those programs vary in their usefulness and I will not try and review them in here. Suffice it to say that if you have a complete backup, including your system files, you will be pretty safe. But the safest thing that you can do is to create a cloned image of your hard drive on a blank disk that you can store someplace in your office or at home. For many reasons a clone of your operating system hard drive is one the best ways to back up both your system and other critical material that is on your system disk. Hard drives are very cheap and the process of creating a cloned image of your drive is very easy. The easiest software to create a cloned image is called Casper Expedia. You can download a trial version of Casper at their website and purchase the full software for less than $50. I strongly recommend that you do that before you embark upon upgrading your Windows XP system. If you have a clone hard drive all you have to do is to replace the existing drive in the computer with a clone and you will be up and running again. All you have to do to create the clone is to install a clean formatted hard drive into one of the open hard drive bays in your computer. You can then clone your new drive from the existing drive while you sleep with a few hours processing time. Another option is to use one of the complete backup external hard drives from major companies such as Western Digital, Seagate or Maxtor. That is much easier but double or triple the cost of buying a blank hard drive. Whichever route you take I emphasize the importance having a full system backup before you attempt the upgrade. In 95% the cases there will be no problem at all. In some cases, however, there will be little, weird, but fixable, problems and in a few cases the upgrade may trash your existing hard drive's system software. Forewarned is forearmed!
The SP2 upgrade to Windows XP is well worth all the effort. The system will operate much smoother and faster than it did before. The security enhancements that are built into SP2, when coupled with the hardware firewall that is built in to modern network routers can make your system very difficult to hack and very discouraging to potential hackers. And if you add on the free ZoneAlarm software (http://www.zonelabs.com) you will be very, very safe. For that reason alone SP2 is worth downloading and installing. Just go to the Microsoft website at http://support.microsoft.com/ph/6794 or http://tinyurl.com/3w667 for the free download of the software.An easier and better way is to get the free SP2 CD from Microsoft at the above website or athttp://tinyurl.com/6g675. Your CD will take a few weeks to arrive but is probably worth the wait and nice to have in any case.
Once you have installed Windows XP SP2 you will notice a number of significant changes in the way your operating system works. The changes will be most obvious when you’re using Internet Explorer. The popups that have driven you crazy for the last year or so will almost disappear and if you continue to run whatever popup blockers you have been using, popups will be a thing the past. I cannot even remember the last time I got a popup ad! The software will tell you when it is blocking a popup and if you need or want to see it you just click on the warning bar to allow the popup through.
If you use Microsoft Office 2003 or newer you will notice a number of improvements in the way it operates. The thing that I like best is a little window that pops up and then fades away in the bottom quarter of your screen whenever Outlook gets a new message. There are other changes in the way Outlook operates that you will notice in the course of your work including greatly improved control over spam and junk mail. I am still a strong believer in the use of the Qurb software (http://www.qurb.com ) that I have written about before and the combination of the two tools is very powerful.
The improved Internet Explorer will alert you to any download that is being made to your computer and require you to authorize it in advance. That is an important protection because some the worst worms and viruses com from hidden downloads to your hard drive. The SP2 upgrade will block them and is worth all the effort for that feature alone.
Finally, if you have put off setting up a wireless network now is the time to do it. Windows XP SP2 makes access to a wireless network much easier. And, if you have had trouble finding or connecting to wireless networks when you travel the improvements that SP2 makes in the way Outlook and Internet Explorer search for and connect to wireless networks will make your traveled much easier. Check out the improvements at http://tinyurl.com/4mg35.
There are literally hundreds other subtle and undocumented changes that you will notice over time. For example, if you use the Task Manager to close down a frozen program or to check on the use of system resources on your computer you’ll find it difficult to shut down when you’re done. Instead allowing you to click on the little X in the upper right hand corner of System Resources screen, you have to right click on the task manager symbol which will appear in your task bar or system tray window at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. The symbol looks like a green window shade that is being rolled up and down. If you want to close the task manager right click on the green window shade and choose “close”. That’s just one example of little things that you will discover as you use the enhanced operating system. Whatever minor distractions these little changes may cause, the big changes are wonderful and will make your computing much safer, smoother and easier. With the caveats above I strongly recommend w
Windows XP SP2.
I hope your holidays are wonderful. See you in 2005!!!