Mark Dormer : Windows XP

Windows XP SP3 breaks Windows Update

Mark Dormer — Fri, 09 May 2008 09:07:00 GMT

If you install XP SP3 on a clean SP2 box Windows Update will no longer work.
Unless you have the newer Windows Update Agent 3.0 your stuck in a hole
There is no way to get it via AU or WU or MU only a manual installation can resolve the issue

1. Download the new Agent (but do not Run it yet) to your Desktop (so you can find it below) :

X86 Version: http://download.windowsupdate.com/WindowsUpdate/redist/standalone/7.0.6000.381/WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe

2. Start, Run, CMD

In the black box:

net stop wuauserv
"%userprofile%\Desktop\WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe" /wuforce (don't forget the quotation marks)
net start wuauserv exit

Thanks to Bill Castner for putting me onto it.

Microsoft Antispyware & Security Essentials

Mark Dormer — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 17:45:00 GMT

If your not using an antispyware product then try the MS one.

Why? Well its free, it works pretty well, it's better than not having any at all

Visit the Security Essentials site to check you have the latest updates and information in order to protect your systems from spyware, viruses and other exploits

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxp/Default.mspx

Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit

Mark Dormer — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 07:25:00 GMT

Microsoft have released a public beta of the shared access toolkit.

While it was designed for machines that have public access, it is a handy tool for home users.

Windows XP Home lacks the ability to edit the local policy, this tool lets you get at a heap of settings that you would only be able to change using registry edits.

Another good tool for doing security lockdowns on XP Home is XP Security Console by Doug Knox

Microsoft to ship Cutdown Windows in Europe

Mark Dormer — Sun, 26 Dec 2004 03:03:00 GMT

A European court ruled this week that Microsoft must release a new version of Windows without Media Player and new server protocols, even though the company's formal appeal has yet to be heard.

It will be ready to ship by February.

Adding MCE 2005 to a Domain

Mark Dormer — Sat, 11 Dec 2004 02:01:00 GMT

I have found it is possible to do this.

I have decided not to publish how, you can work it out for yourselves.

I alluded to it in an earlier blog post, lets just say I solved my problem

IE Updates for XP only

Mark Dormer — Sat, 25 Sep 2004 19:07:00 GMT

microsoft has announced that they won't be integrating the security fixes/upgrades from XP SP2 into any of their older OS's. Of course they will still update sopported OS's but they are going to miss out on the extra security features. Seems like Mozilla usage is about to grow a fair bit. The figures I read estimated 49% of Windows systems are non XP, if these people haven't felt the need to upgrade by now, do you really think that they will to get extra security features. OK, MS will get some of them, but I forsee many just abandoning the insecure tools IE/OE etc and using other programs. Especially when other free programs are better than the ones you are replacing. Hey MS, how about tabbed browsing?

Prescott and XP SP2 Update

Mark Dormer — Fri, 27 Aug 2004 05:30:00 GMT

It seems there are plenty of people out there running Prescott processors without the latest BIOS code. Seems that a number of vendors were putting out boards with pre production microcode versions. And XP needs to see version 8 or later

So go get the latest BIOS update. Unless your mobo manufacturer hasn't yet released one (which is the case for a couple of them) In that case a workaround is available here

First Post XP SP2 Hotfix

Mark Dormer — Tue, 24 Aug 2004 21:09:00 GMT

Programs that connect to IP addresses that are in the loopback address range may not work as you expect

If your using loopbacks and have issues after installing XP SP2, you might like to read this KB Article in Windows XP Service Pack 2

XP SP2 and Prescott, not happy

Mark Dormer — Tue, 24 Aug 2004 02:32:00 GMT

I am getting growing amounts of data that suggests there are issues with XP SP2 and Prescott CPU's on some chipsets.

So far the list of affected motherboards reported by end users

Albatron PX865 PE Pro
Shuttle SB61G2
Jetway i875P
Soyo P4I865P
Aopen AX4SG Max
Asus P4P800-E deluxe

You should make sure you update the BIOS before trying to load SP2 on these systems

How To Block XP SP2 being installed via Automatic Updates

Mark Dormer — Thu, 12 Aug 2004 07:52:00 GMT

microsoft have released details and a tool to allow you to stop SP2 from being installed by the Windows Automatic Updates service.

XP SP2 is available on the Technet Public Website

Mark Dormer — Wed, 11 Aug 2004 23:58:00 GMT

microsoft has made a public download available from this site

New XP KB Article

Mark Dormer — Fri, 09 Jul 2004 16:59:00 GMT

A semi-transparent window may flicker when you play a DVD movie on a Windows XP-based computer
KB840621

Windows XP SP2 RC2 Technical Preview

Mark Dormer — Fri, 09 Jul 2004 15:47:00 GMT

If you want to try out XP SP2, MS is offering it from this site

Worried about putting beta software on my machine?

This release is quite stable. Works fine on all my PC's and laptops.

You get the added bonus of security fixes that is not available to XP SP1

XP SP2 Antivirus Integration

Mark Dormer — Fri, 09 Jul 2004 15:43:00 GMT

XP SP2 has a security console that detects whether AV and Firewall are turned on.

So far it can recognise the following AV products.

Ahnlab (will detect presence only)
Etrust
Kaspersky
McAfee Norton (will detect presence only)
Panda
Sophos
Trend Micro

If your AV is not on this list then get onto your AV manufacturer and microsoft and let them know you expect them to sort it out.

New XP KB articles

Mark Dormer — Tue, 29 Jun 2004 16:32:00 GMT

829643 Internet Explorer 6.0 Service Pack 1 cannot use the Automatic Detect Settings feature in a Windows XP-based computer to find a WPAD server

833355 You receive a protection fault error message when you try to use the DrvGetStandardVariable function

834462 Your USB printer is listed as offline when you try to print from Windows

XP SP2

Mark Dormer — Mon, 28 Jun 2004 19:50:00 GMT

According to Mike Howard XP SP2 is in the home stretch.

Perhaps we will see it in July