Lingering questions for SP2 from MVP board

C

CGB

Guess I'm delaying updating XP SP1 to SP2. I think I have all questions
answered and preparations made but lingering questions:

From an MSMVP web site ( http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spackins.htm ) (Hope
that MVP sees this note) it tells you to:

1. disconnect all peripherals except keyboard and monitor
If these are disconnected, will I have to reinstall drivers for printer
and scanner and digital camera peripherals afterward? I'm particularly
concerned about this because my HP 4100C scanner won't run on Windows XP and
I have it functioning on a jury-rigged combination of a driver for it for
Windows 2000 and an XP patch. I'm not sure I can reproduce this should SP2
installation undo it. I've heard stories of people having driver problems
after going to SP2.
Does this advice also mean to disconnect the telephone line for the
telephone modem? I also have a cable modem and can disconnect it.
Does simply unplugging the computer-to-peripheral cable at the peripheral
count or must it be disconnected at the computer side(harder to reach).

2. Go into MSCONFIG>startup and uncheck everything
I thought one MUST have systray and Iexplore checked for the computer to
work. Or, are these two items necessary only to run Windows and SP2
actually installs in a "DOS" environment? If so the SP2 program won't start
automatically from the CD drive (I have the patch on CD), or will it?

3. If one of the options to install SP2 is to go to MSN and have it
download and install in the background while you are using your computer
(that must take a while!!) why is it necessary to take above steps?

I hope I'm not beating a dead horse on this but I try to avoid things rather
than try to fix them. Also, it's just interesting. Because above advice
came from and MS-MVP, I place great credence in it and am just interested in
the background.

Many thanks.

Chet
 
R

Richard Urban

The information is, Disconnect everything! That includes removing any plug
in boards such as sound cards, LAN cards, modems - you get the picture. You
want only the video adapter, mouse, keyboard, primary master hard drive and
one CD drive connected. Everything else goes.

Note: This is usually only recommended if you are having problems installing
the operating system on a computer. I have never seen, nor would I recommend
that you do this just to update to SP2. If that were the case, Microsoft
would have grave problems indeed!

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
M

Mike Hall \(MS-MVP\)

CGB

The basic idea is that you disconnect some stuff such that SP2 has nothing
to fall over.. so disconnect the printer, scanner, webcam, external drive,
stuff like that..

Re. system tray entries, right click each one and shut down where possible..

Most importantly, ensure that your system is 99.99% spyware free..

Once the above steps are taken, SP2 install should be a breeze..
 
C

CGB

Followed recommendations and installed SP2 in about 40 minutes. All went
well, except my free version of Zone Alarm stopped loading at startup. (I
had told Windows XP not to use their firewall). I uninstalled Zone Alarm
and reinstalled, now it still doesn't load at startup. Instead, I get an
open explorer window of a folder called Zone.com

I have to close this folder and go in and manually start ZoneAlarm. I have
ZoneAlarm set to automatically run on startup but instead it's opening some
folder!

Chet
 
G

Galen

In CGB <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:
Followed recommendations and installed SP2 in about 40 minutes. All
went well, except my free version of Zone Alarm stopped loading at
startup. (I had told Windows XP not to use their firewall). I
uninstalled Zone Alarm and reinstalled, now it still doesn't load at
startup. Instead, I get an open explorer window of a folder called
Zone.com
I have to close this folder and go in and manually start ZoneAlarm. I have
ZoneAlarm set to automatically run on startup but instead it's
opening some folder!

Chet
Click to expand...


Update ZoneAlarm to it's newest version or consider an alternative.

Firewalls - Basics:
http://kgiii.info/windows/all/security/firewalls-basics.html


--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/

"A man should keep his little brain attic stocked with all the
furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the
lumber-room of his library where he can get it if he wants it."

Sherlock Holmes
 
C

CGB

Galen,
Thank you. It is the newest version of ZoneAlarm Free I'm having trouble
with. I'll have to fool around with it a little more. I can get it to work
with a couple of extra clicks at startup but I want to have it right. I'll
see what I can do, just hoping someone might have figured this one out
already and have a quick answer!

Chet
 
C

CGB

Some kind soul responded to my questions re: Zone Alarm problems after SP2
update. The response came from the zone alarm forums. It works.

*****
This is a glitch that happens for some, not all, with the installation of
ZA, SP2 and Windows ... for some reason Windows gets confused with ZoneAlarm
and Zone.Com and there are various reasons why, but there are a couple of
solutions ... I hope this one helps ... BB
In Windows Explorer go to My Computer > Local Disk ( C: ) > Program Files >
Zone.Com > Zone Deluxe Games ... now drag and drop the Zone Deluxe Games
Folder into the Folder labeled Program Files ... now delete the Zone.Com
Folder ... Zone Alarm should now load without any problems and the Zone.Com
Folder will not show-up any longer

*************

Chet
 
B

Bruce Chambers

Pentium said:
Also ... DISABLE ALL firewall & Virus protection too while you're loading
SP2
Click to expand...

Why? I've never seen either type of application cause any problems
with a Service Pack installation.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH
 
M

Mike Hall \(MS-MVP\)

Frank

The problem with telling people to disable firewall and AV is that some will
do it while accepting SP2 from WU.. hardly good advice to give somebody
still very much connected to the internet..
 
F

Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE

Mike Hall (MS-MVP) said:
Frank

The problem with telling people to disable firewall and AV is that
some will do it while accepting SP2 from WU.. hardly good advice to
give somebody still very much connected to the internet..
Click to expand...

Yeah, I should have limited my response to AV programs.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE
Please respond in Newsgroup only. Do not send email
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com./athome/security/protect/default.aspx
http://defendingyourmachine.blogspot.com/
 
B

Bruce Chambers

Frank said:
They have caused problems installing SP2.
Click to expand...


Which ones, Frank?


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH
 
T

Ted Zieglar

I always de-activate my virus and spyware protection when installing
software, even though I understand and agree that this should not be
necessary. It's just been my experience that sometimes - but not always -
software will not install right with this protection active.

[Of course, my firewall always stays on. And if I'm the least bit suspicious
about an installer I'll manually scan it before installing.]
 
C

CGB

Videofreak said:
Found a fix for what?
Click to expand...


From my note of 10/23:

Followed recommendations and installed SP2 in about 40 minutes. All went
well, except my free version of Zone Alarm stopped loading at startup. (I
had told Windows XP not to use their firewall). I uninstalled Zone Alarm
and reinstalled, now it still doesn't load at startup. Instead, I get an
open explorer window of a folder called Zone.com

I have to close this folder and go in and manually start ZoneAlarm. I have
ZoneAlarm set to automatically run on startup but instead it's opening some
folder!

THIS was the fix:

Chet
 
S

Scott

CGB said:
From my note of 10/23:

Followed recommendations and installed SP2 in about 40 minutes. All went
well, except my free version of Zone Alarm stopped loading at startup. (I
had told Windows XP not to use their firewall). I uninstalled Zone Alarm
and reinstalled, now it still doesn't load at startup. Instead, I get an
open explorer window of a folder called Zone.com

I have to close this folder and go in and manually start ZoneAlarm. I have
ZoneAlarm set to automatically run on startup but instead it's opening some
folder!

THIS was the fix:


Chet
Click to expand...

Chet:

I had a similar problem on my wife's 3-month old Win XP Pro laptop (with SP2).
Zone Alarm would not load on startup. I thought it had something to do with
the installation of Nod32 AV. It turns out the fix was easy. With SP2, you
have a choice of turning the Windows Firewall on or off. I had turned it off.
When I turned the firewall back on, Zone Alarm began loading normally at startup.
Problem solved. It could solve the unwanted folder opening up as well.

Scott
 
S

Scott

CGB said:
From my note of 10/23:

Followed recommendations and installed SP2 in about 40 minutes. All went
well, except my free version of Zone Alarm stopped loading at startup. (I
had told Windows XP not to use their firewall). I uninstalled Zone Alarm
and reinstalled, now it still doesn't load at startup. Instead, I get an
open explorer window of a folder called Zone.com

I have to close this folder and go in and manually start ZoneAlarm. I have
ZoneAlarm set to automatically run on startup but instead it's opening some
folder!

THIS was the fix:


Chet
Click to expand...

CGB,

I had a similar problem on my wife's 3-month old Win XP Pro laptop (with SP2).
Zone Alarm would not load on startup. I thought it had something to do with
the installation of Nod32 AV. It turns out the fix was easy. With SP2, you
have a choice of turning the Windows Firewall on or off. I had turned it off.
When I turned the firewall back on, Zone Alarm began loading normally at startup.
Problem solved. It could solve the unwanted folder opening up as well.

Scott
 

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