The release candidate of Windows XP SP2 offers several new features not offered in the first beta that shipped in December, including the Windows Security Center accessible from the Windows Control Panel, the Pop-up Blocker on by default and for consumers, the Windows Update V5 RC1.
Microsoft Releases Windows XP SP2 RC-1
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…it includes an anti-virus.
It also includes the proven activation technology that consumers have come to rely on to keep themselves honest.
The Windows new DRM extensions have also been widely aclaimed by consumers who now understand much better than before that having a third party certify which music belongs to you and which does not is a brilliant idea.
With the new arrival of Samsung TCPA bioses, the future looks bright.
a software anti virus scanner from microsoft is funny.
windows really needs a spyware cleaner/scanner thing whateve you call it. I think the google toolbar gets rid of pop-ups fine 😀
i wonder if concurrent sessions still work
http://www.winbeta.org/winbeta/forums/index.php?showtopic=1982
>>I think the google toolbar gets rid of pop-ups fine 😀
great. you’ve plugged one hole in IE.
what about the rest? (hint, you’ve only got 9 more fingers, and about 1000 more holes to plug..and your precious little google toolbar isn’t going to save you)
What’s so funny about it?
MS DOS up to 6.22 included a virus scanner called MSAV. It was a licensed version of Norton Anti-Virus.
MSAV was not licensed from Symantec. It was a lite version of Central Point Antivirus (CPAV).
-Vesko
The new SP2 RC1 version is GREAT. Stable as a rock here. The firewall is leet supporting games+p2p file sharing programs with no problems. Very easy to set-up too. If they did that with SP2… I cannot imagine how great Longhorn will be.
Although they said “some software is going to have problems with the new service pack” (due to tighter security…), all major programs I checked works just wonderfully with this new service pack. I can see the lawsuits coming from firewall companies such as Tiny Personal Firewall, Symantec Personal Firewall, and ZoneAlarm saying that Microsoft is using it’s position in a bad way again… But I think the provided firewall is GREAT + better than all the mentioned above (checked/tested them all). Microsoft did a great job. This is a l33t release. 
So, is there really an antivirus included? Is it free (to update virus definitions)? Can anyone confirm this again?
Funny… everytime I see l33t written somewhere, there is always 0wn3d written there as well!
Microsoft did a great job. This is a l33t release.
Calm down, man. It’s a service pack – in the old days we lived just fine without them, remember?
No. There is no antivirus included. But, it does find out if you have a 3rd party antivirus installed… If not, it recommends you to buy (giving you the major brands).
@Mat: Did you actually install it? Did you even check what a great improvement it is for WinXP. System seem to respond much faster here. On my friends computer, it stopped all the crashes he used to have (3 per day; due to him deleting “unneeded” files, heh). Saying this service pack is “just another service pack” is totally wrong. It would be like saying that Linux kernel 2.6.x (great stuff!) is “just another kernel”. I just posted my thoughts here… Funny how people starting to get weird once somebody says something nice about Microsoft.
currently running xp sp2 build 2088 (or sumthing close i dont remember) windows needs to relize not all of their users r absolute morons, after i installed this it took over 30 minutes to undo and remove all of the extra ‘features’ it now has. if this is the direction windows is moving i am moving too…to linux, or if for sum reason i am forced to stay with windows (work related) i believe win2k will suffice.
I haven’t download a RC since pre XP days. How can I download the latest XP SP2
Right now it’s released to testers, on friday it will be released to all to try out.
I wonder if he will not be able to install SP2 with out a hack like he had to for sp1.
I have build 2082 (I think) installed on my xp system and it kicks ass. The integrated firewall is very fast and I don’t use the pop up blocker (see firefox, above).
Caveat: I installed this version because when I installed XP SP1A after XP SP1, it decided to take 190 MB of my free memory, all the time, bringing the system to a slow death grind.
After sp was installed, it used less memory in total than when I had SP 1 on. One other thing – There are reports that some of the Windows 2003 server team worked on SP 2 and I think that reflects in the quality of it.
Microsoft Fan
People who don’t know anything about security wouldn’t get firewalls in the first place so microsoft isn’t taking away much market share, if any. The free alternatives provided by those that would sue ms are just there to hook you on and get the more advanced firewall. Besides, the widnows firewall is basic.
You’re right, Microsoft does need a built-in adware/spyware cleaner…this stuff is the bane of Windows’ existance right now. We have a much bigger problem with adware and spyware at work than we do with non-commercial viruses. It disgusts me that Norton, Trend, etc. won’t consider adware/spyware viruses, just because they have corporate backing and a EULA. If a 13 year old had written Hotbar (instead of Hotbar, Inc.), Norton would classify it as a Trojan Horse virus. These things are a huge problem and need to be dealt with on a more serious level than “download ad-aware and you’ll be fine”.
A new Windows feature I would like to see is any program that adds itself to the startup menu or the startup keys in the registry should ONLY be able to do so if the user agrees to let it run automatically on startup. Right now in Windows, third-party software has way too much power over the user to make system-wide decisions and changes.
The Windows Firewall is extremely basic, there is no outbound protection at all (so adware and spyware have no trouble sending your email addresses, passwords and URLs to their servers), and of course anything Microsoft is completely exempt from having to deal with the Windows Firewall.
So it’s obsolete, or maybe the same crap firewall inclued with the original Windows XP plus some eyecandy.
Christ.. you guys should try using the software before you copy and paste from some of your old posts..
microsoft fan
The firewall in SP2 does include outbound protection.