Today, April 12, 2005 sees the ability of the optional XP blocking tool, which prevents Microsoft’s XP Service Pack 2 from being downloaded, expire. This means if you had selected the option to delay the download and installation of SP2, you can no longer do so.
Computers that do not have SP2 installed or downloaded will have copies of 200+ MB update downloaded to their computers, waiting to be installed. According to TechWorld.com,
Microsoft has labeled SP2 a “critical” update and urges all Windows XP users to install it. An estimated 185 million have done so, so far.
Yet users are still unhappy with the way that Microsoft is “force feeding” them with the software. “I am glad that we were able to prepare for it, but next time they need to have a good user roundtable to discuss this,” said Thomas Smith, manager of desktop engineering at a large US company.
Smith has, however, managed to prepare his systems. “I am ready for XP SP2 now,” he said. Smith initially blocked the SP2 download on the 5,000 PCs he oversees but has now produced an additional update that his users need to apply after installing SP2 so they can keep accessing certain required websites that the service pack blocks.
Because of some problems people have experienced installing SP2, especially in a corporate setting where the update can conflict with thousands of computers that need the update, many IT professionals choose to delay the installation of SP2.
After today, they can still hold off on installing the update, but if they have Automatic Update turned on, they cannot delay the update package being downloaded to their computers.
For more information, visit Microsoft’s SP2 update pages.
Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for murdok. Visit murdok for the latest search news.
