S
Shenan Stanley
Herb said:
If I am not mistaken, the original "question" (if you want to call it that)
was from "Hugh" and is quoted below (in reference to SP2):
"Is it me - am I paranoid or has MS screwed it up completely???"
And I believe that has been answered in various threads and by common sense.
MS could not have screwed it up "completely" or there would be no argument.
If they had screwed it up "completely", there would be no working machine,
no one saying "it worked for me" at all.
That doesn't mean the OP is paranoid, necessarily - but it does allow one to
answer the question simply (on an overall basis) with "No - MS did not screw
up completely - there are unique cases where SP2 does not work - period.
The reasons are varied for this - so yes, it could be 'just you'."
Now, perhaps you meant your original question - and I will preclude this
with a "I am surprised to see a particular "adware" identified so bluntly" -
presented in the quote below:
"Can you point me to a reference that categorically identifies *any* piece
of adware or spyware which is known to conflict with SP2 or *known* to
create installation problems?"
And I have to concede, this MS article does categorically identify a
particular piece of adware which is known to conflict with SP2.
Now hold on - I did agree with you at first - a lot of "wishy-washy
language" is present in the given article:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=885523
"This problem may occur.."
"Microsoft is investigating reports of a compatibility issue.."
"T.V. Media is a third-party advertising program that you may not want to
continue running."
Yep - wishy-washy, uncertain, inconclusive even. But it gave me something
to hold on to and search with. Primarily "T.V. Media" as a specified adware
application. So I searched. This is what I found.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=885627
Now they still use the obligatory "The problem may occur if one or more of
the following conditions are true:" statements. However, I cannot say I
would not put that phrase in front of everything I said if I too had a large
crew of legal advisors that had to approve what I posted every time. What a
pain.
However, it did seem more confident in their presentation of the "T.V.
Media" adware than in the previous article.
"A third-party advertising program that is named T.V. Media is installed on
your computer. (T.V. Media is from Total Velocity Corporation.) To help you
avoid a failed Windows XP SP2 installation from Windows Update or from
Automatic Updates, we have temporarily blocked the download of Windows XP
SP2 to computers that have T.V. Media installed."
"Microsoft has recently discovered a compatibility issue between Windows XP
SP2 installation and a third-party advertising program that is named T.V.
Media."
"If you want to install Windows XP SP2, you must completely remove T.V.
Media from your system. The simplest way to remove T.V. Media is to use a
third-party tool that removes unwanted software. After you remove T.V.
Media, Windows XP SP2 will be available to install from Windows Update or
from Automatic Updates."
The article does go into some generalities on how to remove it and that they
recommend using this software to clean up anyway, but they seem vehement
about killing this "T.V. Media" adware in "Method 3" of this article.
I still agree that *if* there is anyone saying that everyone who is having
trouble installing SP2 wouldn't have this trouble if they cleaned their
system of spyware - they are wrong. However, I also have decided that this
article does, in fact, cover a particular piece of adware that causes so
much trouble with the installation of SP2, Microsoft themselves have
basically blocked people from getting SP2 unless it is cleaned from their
system first.
In my searches, I also found Microsoft has even created their own tool to
help remove this particular piece of adware.
Adware T.V. Media Program Removal Tool
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=886590
Download page for the above tool:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...27-b656-45cd-9668-73134a18231b&displaylang=en
(Short link: http://snipurl.com/99jw )
And again - no wishy-washy language here.
"This adware interferes with successful installation of Windows XP Service
Pack 2."
Hope that settles this issue - which has gone on far too long for something
so insignificant in my opinion. *If* someone is giving false advice (saying
that the reason most cannot install SP2 is strictly spyware/adware) - they
are wrong. *If* someone wants a specific example of adware that causes
trouble when trying to install SP2 - this response gives it to them. *If*
someone believes someone with a with a properly maintained system should not
have trouble installing SP2 - I believe they may be incorrect - there will
be systems out there that do not upgrade properly to SP2 for a variety of
reasons unrelated to a properly maintained system. Can these problems be
corrected as well without the end-user spending money - that remains to be
seen.