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RE: XP SP2 other than windows update

  • From: J. Oquendo
  • Date: Wed Sep 08 01:36:46 2004

<ranting lunatic>
SP2 will take a long time to even out the quirks from Windows users. We've
burned the image on to a CD for about 2000+ users and have copied the file
on to users' desktops so they can double click on it for the install. For
the most part, students complained about having to wait for over (and this
is my averaged time) 40 minutes for the SP to install and do its
pseudomagic. After some of the installs, IT began getting flooded with
calls over conflicts on some of the software they'd been using. Seems like
SP2 did not back up all of the necessary drivers or something in order to
make the system function as it did pre-upgrade.

While rambling on about SP2, I'd like to point out (as if most didn't know
this anyway) that MS' answer to their problems are not going to be solved
with shoddy patching. For example, the average person wants to be online,
and be online right now, so what the hell do they care about firewalls,
etc., this is realistic. Sure SP2 looks like a winner since it's pretty,
but it's also annoying to an extent. The balloon popups on the corner do
nothing to "strike fear" in a user by telling them "Your computer is not
safe" in fact, I'm betting the majority of mom and pops over 45 won't
bother turning on their firewalls, nor utilizing any antivirus software.
In fact I bet most will turn off those notices when they figure it out.
Oddly I can see people figuring out how to turn off those messages as
opposed to figuring out how to properly keep their machines safe. Ironic
isn't it.

Considering there are free antivirus programs out there which do a pretty
good job at keeping a system clean, it's sad to see that overblown
commercialized products such as Norton Internet Security, McAfee and
others have made people despise using security software. This comes from
my experience talking with people who for one, just want to get online NOW
NOW NOW, secondly, having dealt with all sorts of Outlook, Outlook
Express, and other connectivity issues because Norton or McAfee thinks
everything and its mother is a threat. This does not include the
(l)users who just don't seem to comprehend some of the dangers of having a
vulnerable machine online. Oh well...

As for the deployment in a big shop, things will be quirky unless
you write your own scripts to ensure MS didn't screw your company's
set-ups. We had to make a VB disk for users in order to make sure they had
up to date antivirus software, and to make sure they had the correct
settings to do their work.

<ranting lunatic>

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J. Oquendo
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