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Tech Corner – SP1 Abandoned in the Fall
By Chuck Thomas, member of the Bowling Green Area Microcomputer User Group, KY.
Chuckt(at)insightbb.com
http://www.bgamug.org/ 

A popup message from Windows Update has been alerting me recently to the fact that Microsoft is ending its support for Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) as of October 10, 2006. It offers a free download of SP2, which will continue to be sup-ported once installed.

If, like me, you are still running SP1, you might think that it is no big deal since you never call or write Microsoft for support anyhow! But the one big problem is that there will no longer be any security up-dates for the old version of XP. As you know, Micro-soft is regularly learning of security holes in their OS and issuing updates (patches for the holes) that you should be installing to keep your computer some-what safe from hackers. These security updates will continue to be available to XP users with SP2 in-stalled, but they will end in October for SP1.

If you don’t know whether or not SP2 is installed, simply click Start/My Computer (or the My Computer link on your desktop) and then on the left side of the My Computer window under System Tasks, click View system in formation. The System Properties window that pops up will show basic information about your computer, including the installed Service Pack for XP.

If you need to upgrade to SP2, go to this Microsoft web page:
http://www.m icrosoft.com/wi ndowsxp/sp2/defau l t.mspx. You’ll find a link in the Get Windows XP SP2 Now box to receive the huge file on a CD by mail for only the cost of mailing. This saves you the trouble of a long download and provides a CD for quick reinstall if it should be necessary. The page also provides “quick tips for a successful upgrade” under the How link.
 
Similarly, support is finally ending on the same date for Windows 98, ME, and NT. But I doubt that many of you are running these operating systems these days, and if you are you long ago ceased to worry about support from Microsoft!

Some of you may have heard that Microsoft announced (on their web site) that support for Windows XP Home and Media Center Edition would be discontinued at the end of 2006—regardless of which service pack is installed. But that was an error, according to Microsoft. Here is the full story on that Micro-soft gaff from ZD Net news:

Until Tuesday night, a posting on Microsoft's Web site stated that support for Windows XP Home and Windows XP Media Centre Edition would end on 31 December, 2006. That would mean no more security fixes or any other support items, such as warranty claims, for users of those operating system products.

But the posting was incorrect, Ines Vargas, a program manager at Microsoft, told ZDNet UK sister site CNET News.com. The software maker has now updated the online information to reflect that the consumer Windows XP editions, along with XP Professional, will be supported until two years after Vista ships, she said. Vista, the long-delayed next update of Windows, is expected to arrive by the end of the year.
"This was brought to our attention late last week, and since then, we have worked diligently to make the change on the site, which was effective Tuesday night," she said. "It was not a change in sup-port policy. It is reflective of the policy as we understand it."
….so we can rest easy knowing we are safe in the hands of Microsoft!

There is no restriction against any non-profit group using this article as long as it is kept in context with proper credit given the author.  The Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an international organization of which this group is a member, brings this article to you.