WinXP SP 2 : WARNING!!!!!

[SPQR]

My son just called me from law school in deep do-do.

When he turned on his laptop, it told him an update was available from
MS; he checked and it was WinXP SP2.

When he installed WinXP Service Pack 2 on his laptop, it removed
EVERY BIT OF HIS LAW SCHOOL STUFF -- wiped out Lexis, Nexis, Westlaw,
and FindLaw applications and access also wiped out access to the
school's network. Gone. Wiped out.

I talked him through System Restore -- fortunately he had a
restoration point a couple of days old, the system went back, and he
is okay now but it was a heartstopper.

What went wrong???
SPQR
<<<<

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Sorry, never heard of SP2 causing programs and applications
to disappear as you described.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| My son just called me from law school in deep do-do.
|
| When he turned on his laptop, it told him an update was available from
| MS; he checked and it was WinXP SP2.
|
| When he installed WinXP Service Pack 2 on his laptop, it removed
| EVERY BIT OF HIS LAW SCHOOL STUFF -- wiped out Lexis, Nexis, Westlaw,
| and FindLaw applications and access also wiped out access to the
| school's network. Gone. Wiped out.
|
| I talked him through System Restore -- fortunately he had a
| restoration point a couple of days old, the system went back, and he
| is okay now but it was a heartstopper.
|
| What went wrong???
|
| >>>>
| SPQR
| <<<<

 

[Richard]

My son just called me from law school in deep do-do.

When he turned on his laptop, it told him an update was available from
MS; he checked and it was WinXP SP2.

When he installed WinXP Service Pack 2 on his laptop, it removed
EVERY BIT OF HIS LAW SCHOOL STUFF -- wiped out Lexis, Nexis, Westlaw,
and FindLaw applications and access also wiped out access to the
school's network. Gone. Wiped out.

I talked him through System Restore -- fortunately he had a
restoration point a couple of days old, the system went back, and he
is okay now but it was a heartstopper.

What went wrong???

SPQR
<<<<

What was the make and model number of the laptop ? Not all OEM versions of
XP are the same. Some take to SP 2 like a duck to water whilst others are
just waiting to give their users a heart attack.

Richard.

 

[Matthew Clark]

Could this possibly be a firewall issue? I believe most of the applications
mentioned are online.

Matthew

 

[molsonexpert]

My son just called me from law school in deep do-do.

When he turned on his laptop, it told him an update was available from
MS; he checked and it was WinXP SP2.

When he installed WinXP Service Pack 2 on his laptop, it removed
EVERY BIT OF HIS LAW SCHOOL STUFF -- wiped out Lexis, Nexis, Westlaw,
and FindLaw applications and access also wiped out access to the
school's network. Gone. Wiped out.

I talked him through System Restore -- fortunately he had a
restoration point a couple of days old, the system went back, and he
is okay now but it was a heartstopper.

What went wrong???

SPQR
<<<<

Exactly what or who told him there was an update available? Are you sure it
was SP2? I've been getting the odd e-mail that looks just like Microsoft
with an attachment that's supposed to be the latest patch. Microsoft does
not notify users of updates and patches, at least not with attachments.

steve.

 

[NoNoBadDog!]

I suspect that there is much more to this than posted. System Restore would
not have restored the files that the OP states were wiped. System Restore
will restore critical system files, and other files that are "monitored",
but will not restore applications and files that are user created. While I
have never heard of or use "Lexis, Nexis Westlaw or Findlaw", I would get
that they would not be restored by using a system restore point.

I have installed SP2 on my 4 computers at home, and on over 40 computers
at work. 40% of these computers are laptops. I have never seen SP2 wipe any
user files or applications from HDDs. I did have one computer (a laptop)
that would not connect to the network after installation of SP2, but
disabling Windows Firewall (third party firewall used on all machines) fixed
that minor problem.

I would recommend that the OP investigate further.

Bobby

 

[CWatters]

I talked him through System Restore -- fortunately he had a
restoration point a couple of days old, the system went back, and he
is okay now but it was a heartstopper.

It shouldn't be if he has a backup strat in place. What would you have done
had he called to say he'd dropped his laptop and trashed the hard drive?

I've had a hard drive die for no reason. That is scary.

 

[Guest]

-----Original Message-----
Gone. Wiped out.

Could you be more specific about "gone"? Everything you
listed sounds like services on the Internet. Could it
have all been a firewall issue?

 

[root]

My son just called me from law school in deep do-do.

When he turned on his laptop, it told him an update was available from
MS; he checked and it was WinXP SP2.

When he installed WinXP Service Pack 2 on his laptop, it removed
EVERY BIT OF HIS LAW SCHOOL STUFF -- wiped out Lexis, Nexis, Westlaw,
and FindLaw applications and access also wiped out access to the
school's network. Gone. Wiped out.

I talked him through System Restore -- fortunately he had a
restoration point a couple of days old, the system went back, and he
is okay now but it was a heartstopper.

What went wrong???

Something in your story for starters. Problems possibly. Network problems
very possibly. "wiped out Lexis, Nexis, Westlaw, and FindLaw
applications"...not credible. Something else happened or there's a lot more
to the story.

 

[Johnson Smith]

-----Original Message-----
My son just called me from law school in deep do-do.

When he turned on his laptop, it told him an update was available from
MS; he checked and it was WinXP SP2.

When he installed WinXP Service Pack 2 on his laptop, it removed
EVERY BIT OF HIS LAW SCHOOL STUFF -- wiped out Lexis, Nexis, Westlaw,
and FindLaw applications and access also wiped out access to the
school's network. Gone. Wiped out.

I talked him through System Restore -- fortunately he had a
restoration point a couple of days old, the system went back, and he
is okay now but it was a heartstopper.

What went wrong???

SPQR
<<<<
.

What went wrong??? Sounds like the old IBKAC error, or
perhaps ID 10 T...

Windows FIREWALL blocked those apps. It should have been
a relatively simple matter for a LAW STUDENT to figure
out how to allow the programs access to the Internet...

PANIC set in and overrode sense to stay calm and do some
research.

 

[\old\ devildog]

All of the items you listed are all software designed to retrieve information from the internet ... you will find they were not "wiped out" instead they were denied access to the internet ... is there already a firewall installed on the laptop? if there is then the Windows Firewall needs to be shutdown ... or his 3rd party firewall needs to be shutdown .... I bet you will find that if all security software was shutdown , disk cleanup was done, as well a scans from the anti-virus as well as scans for adware and malware are done, you can reinstall the SP2 update with out any problems .... I would say that many of the freeware firewalls are better and easier to use than the Windows firewall. Get one like Zonealarm and use it .... the programs you listed will have to be allowed to pass through the firewall but they will work .... By the way the items you listed show that your son is in Law School .... I am sure he can find someone there who is computer savvy enough to help him past this..... maybe someone in the computer sciences department .....
Remember a clean install of XP SP2 requires a clean Operating System ...... spend a few hours cleaning up your system before even thinking about installing XP SP2 ... a "dirty" OS means a botched install and a botched install is your fault

****************
"old" devildog
Semper Fi
****************
****************

 

[JerryMouse]

Could this possibly be a firewall issue? I believe most of the
applications mentioned are online.

Matthew

Betcha that's it. New firewall stuff in XP.

It's also possible that Micros~1 doesn't like lawyers.

 

[Barry Watzman]

RE: "It's also possible that Micros~1 doesn't like lawyers."

Au, Contraire. Microsoft LOVES lawyers, unless they work for the
government.

 

[Dick Kistler]

RE: "It's also possible that Micros~1 doesn't like lawyers."

Au, Contraire. Microsoft LOVES lawyers, unless they work for the
government.

Or Sun.

 

[SlowJet]

Hi SPQR,

Your son did the right thing and so did you.

I am surprised that these geeks can't even remember that
the MS Firewall does not block out going requests or
incoming responses to them.
Or the fact that if the MS FW does block something it
creates a pop-up indicating such with the option to keep
blocking, unblock, or use once and ask later.

yessh. After all the talk and talk and talk, yet they are
just parrots.

SJ