Microsoft Windows XP Professional w/ Service Pack 2 Review

Bottom-Line: Overall I am pleased with the improvements WinXP Pro SP2 brought to the table, the most welcome of which was a built-in popup blocker for Internet Explorer.

I have used every version of Microsoft's premiere business Operating System (OS), Windows XP Professional from the native Green box version to Service Pack 2 (SP2).  With very few exceptions the OS has proved to be a very stable and reliable partner, both at home where I run (4) Windows XP Pro SP2 machines, and at work where I help administer over 1500 Windows XP Pro desktops and laptop computers.  I addition, to my WinXP Pro experience I also have run every version of Windows since version 3.1, and I can state with some certainty that WinXP Pro is the most stable Windows OS Microsoft has ever released.

But like every Microsoft OS there have been incremental changes to WinXP Pro, the latest of which SP2 brought subtle changes to the OS.  SP1 was the big improvement for the OS for it allowed WinXP Pro and Home to support ATA hard drives (Parallel and Serial) larger than 137GB.  The Windows 137GB capacity barrier is also known as 48-bit Logical Block Addressing (LBA) Support for ATA (IDE), Serial ATA or ATAPI disc drives.   

Then Along Came SP2

Windows Service Pack 2 was not the quantum leap forward Service Pack 1 proved to be, but the release brought subtle but needed security related improvement to the to the XP platform.  These improvements include:

• A built-in firewall associated to each network, dial-up, and or VPN adapter in the computer;
• better support for wireless devices such as WiFi and Bluetooth that simplify the process f discovery and connection;
• a built-in popup stopper for Internet Explorer 6.0 (long overdue);
• Internet Explorer Local Machine Zone Lockdown disables the execution of Active X controls and Active scripting in the Local Machine Zone;
• vast improvement to Internet Explorer that closed some glaring and exploitable security holes; these include better privacy protection, and more control over downloadable files;
• improvements to Outlook Express help reduce spam by protecting your email address;
• general improvements in Windows security posture afforded by the new Windows Security Center that allows you to easily view your security status and manage security settings on the fly;
• an improved version of Microsoft Update to allow XP machines to interface with the newer version of Microsofts' software Update Services (SUS) now call Windows Software Update Services (WSUS), which is a server based application.  Other improvements allow for Express updates wherein the end user does not have to approve each update; it is instead downloaded to the computer automatically and installed.     

In every other aspect WinXP Pro SP2 looks and feels like the other release of the OS.  Cosmetically there are not changes; like I stated above most of the changes are to the security profile of the OS.  These improvements of course have made the WinXP Pro SP2 a more secure OS without sacrificing the overall functionality of the OS.  But one thing is missing and that is comprehensive protection against malicious code.  That protection is afforded by Microsoft Defender currently in Beta 2 release, but downloadable to the general public via the Microsoft web site.  Microsoft Defender is built into Windows Vista.  

Overall I am pleased with the improvements WinXP Pro SP2 brought to the table, the most welcome of which was a built-in popup blocker for Internet Explorer, a feature that was long over due.  The inclusion of a firewall however represents cost saving for most, because now you will not have to purchase an add-on.  And the firewall allow for some tweaking so at least you can control what comes through your adapters.  All-n-all I would say that SP2 is worth the upgrade; all new computer with Windows XP, be it Home or Professional have it installed.