Posted on 08/06/2004 3:17:59 PM PDT by Dubya
REDMOND, Wash. - Almost since the day Microsoft Corp. released its Windows XP computer operating system nearly three years ago, it has been a favorite target of hackers and critics eager to stress its numerous security shortcomings.
Now, more than two years after promising to do something about it, Microsoft is about to release the biggest update ever for Windows. The free upgrade is designed to make computers safer from attack by sealing entries to viruses, better protecting personal data and fending off spyware.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said the upgrade, dubbed Service Pack 2, revises less than 5 percent of the millions of lines of code that make up Windows XP but adds more value than any update the company has ever done.
Some of the nearly $1 billion that's gone into Service Pack 2 also will be used on future versions of Windows. But Gates said it was absolutely necessary to give away the security advances now because of the barrage of attacks plaguing Windows-based computers.
"If we weren't viewing this as such a key priority, then we wouldn't be giving it away as a free thing," Gates said in an interview with The Associated Press.
The long-awaited update is due to be completed "in the coming days," Microsoft senior product manager Matt Pilla said.
The company could not be more specific. Service Pack 2 has been delayed as programmers have worked to make sure the new security safeguards would not keep people's favorite applications -- such as online games and music download services -- from working correctly. But such delays aren't unusual in the software industry, especially with such an enormous undertaking as this.
For regular users, the most noticeable change will be a series of new prompts. The idea is that if users have to actively give permission for programs to interact with their computers, there is less chance they will be hit by a virus or inadvertently allow malicious software that can monitor computer activities.
It's always risky to ask loyal customers to suddenly do things differently, but Gates said the changes aren't major and are worth it.
Many security experts agree, arguing that the security changes are badly needed. Analyst Joe Wilcox of Jupiter Research likens the situation to the changes people might make when entering a bad neighborhood, which is what the Internet has become with rampant security attacks.
LOL! MVT-RT anyone?
Mozilla for me...but thinking of trying Firefox.
Hate IE.
DR X-Windows
I received my first pop-up ad on Mozilla today. Hope it was a straggler but there it was after 4 months of being pop-up free.
That is a thing that keeps the same old same old that you remove from getting back in.
Surf safe
And go to certain websites - This is known from experience.
"Opera here."
Opera is far superior to IE.
This person is supposed to be a technical journalist, yet has never heard of a "Service Pack" before? Yeesh.
Safari here!
bill
Yes I sure did .it took me a couple times of using the software to get the hang of all it does,but I figured it out. I just use the alternate browser and find it much more enjoyable to surf:0
I am wholeheartedly sick of these fricking updates slowing my computer. This one is what...9.2 M??? Great. I'm really looking forward to downloading this sucker via dial-up. :P
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