Anyone install it yet?

Just got done installing it and so far nothing broken. Some of the smaller softwares don't work now and for some reason it doesn't read Norton anti-virus as active when Norton is working just fine.

Lets see what other new surprises arise.

Where did you get it from? I was just checking for it yesterday and there was nothing. I see that today they've updated the update software, but SP2 is still not available. Did you download the IT professional version?

Edit: Ugh. I already see that the new version of the update software is annoying. The only way to read the description of a particular update is by clicking on it. Mucho pain in the asso.

Where did you get it from? I was just checking for it yesterday and there was nothing. I see that today they've updated the update software, but SP2 is still not available. Did you download the IT professional version?



Through Automatic update. Face it invert...XP loves me more.
:)

I think this update has actually made my PC boot up slower.

EDIT: WTF???? Everytime I try to open up control panel the whole PC freezes and I get a stupid ass message saying Dr. Postmartem has stopped working.

What the hell is Dr. Postmartem?

What the hell? Is it because I have automatic update off and update manually? That's a bunch of crap.

MMMMAAAAADDDDD AAAATTTT M$!!

Bastards. Ok, if that's what they want, I'll turn the stupid crap on for a couple of minutes and I BETTER get the friggin update. And it better not screw my system up or I'm going to Redmond to raise some hell. It's only about a half hour drive from where I live, you know. ;)

Oh wow. That's weird. I just went to my system properties panel and it's different! Updating the update software from the update site affected my system panel. Weird. Autoupdate is still off though. At first I thought that SP2 had slipped in with me unawares. :p

You know what's a pain? I'm gonna have to go through settings and turn off the default on settings for windows firewall and all that. I've got a router and have no need for a personal firewall. If I did need a firewall, I'd need to stop things from going out not in. I don't think the updated windows firewall has changed in that regard.

Do you use IE, Sarge? Does the popup blocker work?

Motherfucking Microsoft....nothing works...GAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't open anything without PC freezing...what the hell??????

Someone tell me Microsoft has some updates for this shit.

Ok now this is starting to get really annoying. This update has done more harm than good.

Anybody have any idea what Dr. Watson Postmartem debugger is? Everytime I try to opne My computer, control panel, My documents it freezes the whole PC.....I can't access my hard drive manually but clicking on other installed applications icons works on the desktop.

Anyone?

What's weird is that I can't get it. I set my auto update for 10 pm and 10 pm came and went with nothing happening. I wonder if you didn't get some kinda weird virus or something.

I set it to 11 to try again so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Been looking at the windows site looking for information on your problem, but found no mention of doctor postmartem. I even tried doctor postmortem to no avail. Maybe I should've just tried postmartem/postmortem without the doctor. Was it doctor or dr.?

Hopefully you archived your files so that you can undo it if the problems don't get solved.

Try looking on the windows update site. There's links to SP2 info and troubleshooting. That's what I'm doing right now.

Hell, here's a link. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=884130&product=windowsxpsp2


Edit: Just saw Dr. Watson. That's been around a while. It analyzes application crashes. Doesn't do much for a layman though. Never heard that postmartem thing though.

Invert

http://www.tss2000.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1103

This is what I am talking about.

http://img32.exs.cx/img32/2180/watson.jpg

well, that must be a new feature of Dr. Watson in XP or something. I haven't seen that before, but Dr. Watson is the NT debugger agent service that runs on NT machines, logging crashes and such. I think it's supposed to offer solutions to configuration problems but I don't know if I've ever found it useful. Could be my ignorance. I don't even understand active directories. For shame.

oh, and SP2 isn't available to me yet either. i wonder if they're doing it on selective domains at first - or something like that.

Where you from Sargentlard? That's a good question. Maybe they're trying out on you foreigners first. :D I live in Seattle and no update here. 11:00 has come and gone and no update.

Sounds like it for the best from what you got going on.

He probably downed the manufacturer's version and got screwed. Ha!


---

There is NO need to install XP2 if you don't use Internet Explorer and already have an antivirus/firewall. Trust me.

SP2 for XP seems to work just fine for me.

http://hennevl.de/stuff/wallpaper/tuxatwork.jpg :D

Firstly there was alot of hype about programs not going to work with SP 2 (People were even told to avoid it). This was mainly due to Microsoft rather than fixing exploitable code, they have disabled it until they eventually have a patch and this is the main reason some stuff doesn't work.

Secondly Doctor Watson has been round since I think 3.1.1 but definitely win95, as suggested it is a diagnostics program and allows (or allowed) certain methods of capturing a look at the system when it works, to then work out when a problem occurs what went wrong.

I would guess if you wanted to stop your crash you would need to stop Certain daemons from attempting to run. (Like the Dr Watson thingy.)

I would guess if you wanted to stop your crash you would need to stop Certain daemons from attempting to run. (Like the Dr Watson thingy.)


How would I go about doing that?

THe only reason IE is on my computer is that Norton requires it to do scans.

My computer was wierd anyway. I told it to download the update, but it didn't.

I think I'll wait a couple weeks....Then I can just get the SP2 patch also :)

http://hennevl.de/stuff/wallpaper/tuxatwork.jpg :D
Haha Linux is the best "Service Pack" you'll ever get...

Nothing gives Linux a bad name like the users attitudes.

Please spare me your proseletyzing of the latest release of Bucket BSD.

Want SP2? Go here, http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=049C9DBE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A&displaylang=en

Nothing gives Linux a bad name like the users attitudes.



Here here. Thank you for saying it.


Also, does anyone know how to turn off Dr Watson postmortem debugger?

Here is an MS article on how to disable Dr. Watson, http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;188296 .

You may find it easiest to do a repair installation of Windows, and then install SP2. Many people had problems with SP1 with older installations of Windows, and MS recommended doing a Repair Install prior to installing SP1.

If you have any questions about a Repair Installation of Windows, take a look here: http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm .

I've had auto-update on for days and still haven't got SP2. What's the deal? The auto-update icon comes up and says it's downloading 0%. Nothing ever happens with it. No internet activity.

Can anyone tell me how to unsintall service pack 2? It can be removed through add/remove in control panel but control panel won't open because drwatson keeps freezing everything hence my reason to unsintall service pack 2 in the first place.

I can't get to the control panel......also where would I find my archived files so I can go back to the previous settings sans service pack 2.

Did you try to follow Repo Man's link on how to turn off Dr. Watson?

Nothing gives Linux a bad name like the users attitudes.

Please spare me your proseletyzing of the latest release of Bucket BSD.
Well for me, Linux is a way to escape the Microsoft monopoly on the x86 desktop. As well as the overpriced products... Obviously one of the reasons Windows has so many bugs is because it aims to be easy for the user. Without that goal, things such as ActiveX may be disabled by default, thus making the browser more secure. Although the average user just wants his computer to work, so ActiveX is enabled so everything works. If you keep up with news, you would have also noticed that Mozilla Firefox had a security problem a while ago, with allowing something to install via the automatic install thing that Firefox has. This was put there with the intention to make it easier to use. As such things become more user friendly, more exploits will emerge. Although with Linux there will be something you can do about it, as opposed to Microsoft and people linked to them being the only people who can fix a problem. By no means is Linux software more stable then Windows or vice versa. Just a few days ago, the new kernel 2.6.8/2.6.8.1 was released, which broke audio burning! Besides the huge memory leak while doing so, audio cds are now corrupt. If this was something that I needed fixed immediately, I could scan through the source, and fix the problem, providing I knew how. Whereas in some extreme cases, it could be a few weeks until a patch is released for Windows had this happen. (Although for an issue such as this it might be sooner) Oh, and the Penguin looks cool :p

I've had auto-update on for days and still haven't got SP2. What's the deal? The auto-update icon comes up and says it's downloading 0%. Nothing ever happens with it. No internet activity.

Well it is because this is the testing version of xp service pack 2. Windows is, for now, only giving certain (I happened to be unfortunate one of them) members with AU on the trial service pack. So if you have your AU on you will definetly get it starting aug 25th, that is when Microsoft opens xp service pack 2 to all members with AU on.


I just uninstalled the service pack 2 from my machine....good riddance.

Will the version on the 25th still be considered a 'testing version'? If so, I might just wait til it appears in the manual update. I don't care to be a guinea pig. Especially when I don't really need the security features it offers.

Will the version on the 25th still be considered a 'testing version'? If so, I might just wait til it appears in the manual update. I don't care to be a guinea pig. Especially when I don't really need the security features it offers.


I think so....anyways so many of the features have been turned off i nthe testing version so i'll wait for the final release....oh and guess what

as soon as I uninstalled service pack 2...AU is telling me service pack 2 is ready to be downloaded :D

Windows does love me more than you.

Actually, it seems that your machine is a bit of a masichist. :D

Well for me, Linux is a way to escape the Microsoft monopoly on the x86 desktop. As well as the overpriced products... Obviously one of the reasons Windows has so many bugs is because it aims to be easy for the user. Without that goal, things such as ActiveX may be disabled by default, thus making the browser more secure. Although the average user just wants his computer to work, so ActiveX is enabled so everything works. If you keep up with news, you would have also noticed that Mozilla Firefox had a security problem a while ago, with allowing something to install via the automatic install thing that Firefox has. This was put there with the intention to make it easier to use. As such things become more user friendly, more exploits will emerge. Although with Linux there will be something you can do about it, as opposed to Microsoft and people linked to them being the only people who can fix a problem. By no means is Linux software more stable then Windows or vice versa. Just a few days ago, the new kernel 2.6.8/2.6.8.1 was released, which broke audio burning! Besides the huge memory leak while doing so, audio cds are now corrupt. If this was something that I needed fixed immediately, I could scan through the source, and fix the problem, providing I knew how. Whereas in some extreme cases, it could be a few weeks until a patch is released for Windows had this happen. (Although for an issue such as this it might be sooner) Oh, and the Penguin looks cool :p


I'm glad you like Linux. And you seem to have a reasonable attitude about its benefits, and drawbacks.

But I've become increasingly impatient with the superiority complex that many Linux users exhibit. Usually found on computer forums like www.overclockers.com . "Teh windoze suxors, LOL!"
Snotty, pasty faced junior highschool punks, many of whom are the leading cause of MS security problems. If these thousands of dateless wonders were working on ways to exploit the weaknesses of Linux, it might not seem like quite such a secure alternative.

I tried Linux out of curiosity a couple of years ago. I installed Red Hat on my backup PC (I bought a book), got it working, and then got bored with it. Windows does what I want. I have had very few problems with XP, and the majority of those were self inflicted through overclocking.

I was actually pretty happy with Windows 98 until I started using a motherboard with a Via chipset, and discovered overclocking. On my trusty Asus P55T2P4, with a K6-2+ 475 @500 (the first decent computer I built), it was as stable as could be.

The only time I've had a problem with the Blaster, or any other worm, was when I was careless enough to websurf with a fresh (unpatched) installation of XP. I've always used Netscape, and that has been a big help in preventing problems. But with all of the bad press the IE has gotten, and the increasing popularity of alternative browsers, I worry the bug makers may be looking harder at exploiting Netscape.

As for cost, I've yet to pay for an MS operating system.

MS has the burden of trying to be the OS for everyone. Try getting your grandparents to use a computer with Linux.

I have no problem with those who use and prefer Linux. I'm just annoyed at those who constantly feel the need to insult MS operating systems, and by extension, those of us who use them and are happy with them.

Isn't there a linux vs. Windows thread somewhere?

But I've become increasingly impatient with the superiority complex that many Linux users exhibit. Usually found on computer forums like www.overclockers.com . "Teh windoze suxors, LOL!"
Snotty, pasty faced junior highschool punks, many of whom are the leading cause of MS security problems. If these thousands of dateless wonders were working on ways to exploit the weaknesses of Linux, it might not seem like quite such a secure alternative.
I know exactly what you mean. They think it makes them more of a 'l33t h4x0r'. :rolleyes:

I tried Linux out of curiosity a couple of years ago. I installed Red Hat on my backup PC (I bought a book), got it working, and then got bored with it. Windows does what I want. I have had very few problems with XP, and the majority of those were self inflicted through overclocking.
Yeah Windows XP does seem to be pretty stable, although it was a pain to install, since I just upgraded my motherboard, and the preinstalled one that I had on my second hard drive didn't work. Just so happened that I had a spare Windows XP Pro cd laying around, popped that in, and couldn't reinstall on the second hard drive, since it needed a windows partition on the main drive, which made me somewhat mad, but I eventually just deleted my Linux swap partition so I could install Windows, on the first drive...all so I could play Doom 3 :(

The only time I've had a problem with the Blaster, or any other worm, was when I was careless enough to websurf with a fresh (unpatched) installation of XP. I've always used Netscape, and that has been a big help in preventing problems. But with all of the bad press the IE has gotten, and the increasing popularity of alternative browsers, I worry the bug makers may be looking harder at exploiting Netscape.
As for cost, I've yet to pay for an MS operating system.
I've gotten several viruses, but that's mainly due to running outdated versions of the software. I had to run Windows XP since my computer was down while I was upgrading my motherboard, and video card and whatnot. So I was stuck on an older computer with Windows 98/XP. It's not bad, and I can stand it, but I do like having the open source software, such as GIMP, Gaim, Firefox, Abiword, and so on, just because I've gotten used to them, and they suit my needs perfectly.

MS has the burden of trying to be the OS for everyone. Try getting your grandparents to use a computer with Linux.
Exactly. Although some Linux distros are aiming for this, such as Linspire and Lycoris. Although having a centralized place, such as Microsoft, with only one developing version instead of hundreds of distros, makes it a lot cleaner.

I have no problem with those who use and prefer Linux. I'm just annoyed at those who constantly feel the need to insult MS operating systems, and by extension, those of us who use them and are happy with them.
Yes, for some people, Windows is the perfect solution. It's just that some software that Microsoft has, might not be the smartest to use, such as Internet Explorer, but even pro-Microsoft fans have said this.

Over the years originally anti-Microsoft resentment was actually stirred up by those in proper hacking guilds that complained about the lack of Source code that Microsoft was willing to cough up to the Public Domain. Over the years, those resentments that were potentially written in tutorials on how to do things on the computer in the public domain became read by the constantly increasing upsurgence of junior delinquents and therefore continued the torch burning (and pitchfork wielding) towards Microsoft.

Alot of people thought it was just about Bill Gates and his Business sense in how to alter the state of OS 's from that point in time, but that was the real root of distain.

The main reason that Linux was propagated to be a better OS was purely for the Open Source, true "Hackers" (Note hackers in this case means people that like to alter/personalise the code) were able to get hold of the linux kernel and modify it to their own tastes, which has generated a number of different varieties of Linux.

However their will always be resentment to Microsoft because the difference between a "Organisation" doing Linux for Free (or donations) doesn't have the same creditibility as a Corporation, this means that hardware manufacturers tend to listen to those that make them money, in this case the Corporation. This is why most games are written for DirectX compatibility which is notible Microsoft and makes it impossible to be cross platform, so ports have to be made which in turn cost money to write and usually aren't bothered with.

It is noted that with the recent turn around for RedHat heading into a corporate direction with one of their builds that some of the hardware firms are actually taking notes from this particular linux build which is something going for linux (as long as the build doesn't defer too much from the other linux kernels, it could actually aid linux as a whole)

On top of all this, Wheres Apple at? I know there are alot of Apple users on this board, but Mac's are renouned for being expensive and even what they are good at is now often disputed to be "done better on PC". Although saying this I know little of what has recently been done with the sourcecode (because Im sure some was Open-Sourced recently)

As for the virus builds out there, the kids that do it rarely think through what they are doing first. Their viruses could infect not just personal computers or business computers but Doctors computers for an example. Someone could have some test results that if the Doctor deals with correctly would save their life but along comes a virus and downs the system, the results are lost and the person dies so the scriptkiddies can actually cost lives.

This is why most games are written for DirectX compatibility which is notible Microsoft and makes it impossible to be cross platform
That is not true. I've been playing Baldur's Gate II, Warcraft III and Painkiller on my Linux box. Using Cedega from transgaming.com

so I could play Doom 3
as I've heard there is or soon is going to be an official Doom 3 Linux Edition

as I've heard there is or soon is going to be an official Doom 3 Linux Edition
Yes, in a couple of weeks, www.doom3linux.com. But I couldn't wait that long :(

I like the new upgrade besides the fact that I CANT USE KAZAA LITE!!! DAMNIT! What am i supposed to download music off of now? Anyone else having this problem?

Popup Blocker works like a miracle.

Service pack 2 works flawlessly with my computer. Not one program was affected. I can't understand the hoopla of this update. Most of the problems that happen are probably from people not understanding how to operate a firewall, and most of the more critical problems come from businesses who have highly customized networking and software. This update was to protect the non-computer-savvy users of Windows, so the businesses are having problems because Windows is trying to automate itself too much for their networks.

My kazaa lite works fine, as if nothing changed. It's version 2.4.3, the last version they released before being shut down, I think.

The popup blocker was long overdue. IE's competition forced this on Microsoft.

I keep everything in the "Windows Security Center" off or 'not monitored.' An update from symantec (norton) allowed the security center to recognize my anti-virus software, but even without that update, nothing would've happend as long as you turn things to "I'll monitor it myself." The windows firewall does not do as much as completely free firewalls like Sygate's personal firewall (which I use). I recommend you turn off Automatic Updates, as you don't know what microsoft sends to your machine. In IE, just go to the Tools menu, then click Windows Update, and you can manually update windows from their site.

People who don't update Windows are just idiotic. Are you afraid one day Microsoft will stop your from using your warez? What a sad day that'll be :rolleyes:

Ah Grazzhoppa, did you see a list of what the SP2 pack fixes?
Doesn't it make you the least bit curious about what it's actually doing when it's patching? (From what was said on another site somewhere, It actually disables alot of protocols because patches haven't been made)

o.0 how do you get rid of it... everything it said how to get rid of it didn't work =_ !!! AND it auto loaded

o.0 how do you get rid of it... everything it said how to get rid of it didn't work =_ !!! AND it auto loaded

Control panel > add/remove programs > remove.

lol that didn't work but i got it fixed now ^^^ thnx thou

it worked fine for me. but i dont have any illegal shite on my computer etc. if you do...
"muhahahahahaha"

This Dr Watson Postmortem Debugger is seriously beginning to piss me off. :mad:

If I right click on any file my computer goes in to a slow-mo freeze, then eventually get the Dr Watson Postmortem message. Computer can be then brought back to life by closing Dr Watson in Taskbar processes - but right clicking files is vital - both for opening them in applications and renaming or sending to FTP ect ect ect.

Uninstalling SP2 left mutant remnants of SP2 still on my machine which caused it to crash when opening Control Panel or a total crash when pressing any key on keyboard.

Repaired XP but that took my wireless network down and couldn't easily be fixed cause I think XP needed updates I couldn't connect to the net for, so installed SP2 again but this time the Service Pack 2 Network Installation Package, and network came back up - but still this Dr Watson Postmortem Debugger issue on right-click.

Grrrrr :(

so much for a most user friendly os :rolleyes:

LOL who every said windows was user friendsly =P

I installed that with no problems,i reckon that if you havnt updated in a while that might be what causes problems,that and antivirus software.My laptop is a couple of years old as well,maybe it affects newer computers more?

I think windows problems are a joke,microsoft is a joke,if this was any other piece of software youd rip the shit out of it and not use it,but cos its windows you have to settle with it no matter how shite it gets.
Talk about oppression,im glad microsoft dont own the world.

I think i might go anarchist and get a mac one day.

I just installed Service Pack 2 and it works fine for me. I noticed that Microsoft has erased some useless functions of windows as well, like that ridiculous Prefetch function that slowed down the PC when it was booting up.

Also I have the impression that Windows uses my network connection more effectively than before, and I noticed an overall increase in speed.

Yes, I like the SP2.

Originally Microsoft had a 10% reserved bandwidth function (I think it was 10%) anyhow it was really meant for large networks where redundant bandwidth is used for mail transfers etc, not home PC users, so I would guess they probably worked out a way to deal with that reserved bandwidth in the cases of Home users.

Ah, that may be. I did not look at it in depth yet. Only on a superficial level. But until now I did not have any problem with the serverpack whatsoever.
Only those new firewall blocking messages are a bit annoying. Every programm that uses internet connection except my browsers were blocked... isn´t that a bit overkill?
Anyway, I even have more available RAM with SP2. I think Microsoft might have managed do to something good this time. (but I don´t know how good)

That reservable bandwidth is part of the QoS Packet Scheduler for your network\internet connection, and its default is to reserve 20% bandwidth. I don't think SP2 changed that, because on my computer it still says the default is 20%.

If you want it to give you that 20% back, go to the command line (click run).
type gpedit.msc
under Computer Configuration on the left bar, go into Administrative Templates
go to Network
go to QoS Packet Scheduler
double click Limit Reservable Bandwidth
Enable it
type 0 (zero) in the box next to "Bandwidth limit (%)"

Although QoS ps is probably already enabled in your connection to the network/internet, you'll want to make sure. So, go to Control Panel
go to Network Connections
right click the connection you're using
select Properties
make sure there's a check next to QoS Packet Scheduler

sargentlard

I found the solution to the right-click freeze DrWatson Postmortem Debugger issue with SP2. At least it works for me and has for others. :)

After considerable time and messing about - (because I uninstalling SP2 leaves me without internet connection I had to find a fix for it & wasn't keen on the registry edit ) - I'm pretty sure its a DivX issue.

I've got Dr.DivX installed and after uninstalling it, right click is back in business. ;) :)

Even in you don't have Dr.DivX I'm guessing components of some other DivX products also have the SP2 compatibility problem.

Edit: Also I've just found this as I've researched it some more
www.tech-recipes.com/windows_tips555.html

I've had no problems with it. On my pc, when it was backing up files, there was one file it couldn't copy because it was still in use. (Don't remember which now.) But, in the actual operation of it I've had no problems whatsoever. It is kindof annoying having the security icon in the taskbar even when hidden. (Makes me think of eating resources, however few.) I just turned off the firewall feature and will do so each time I reinstall which is kind of a hassle but not too bad.

The question to my mind is... When next I reinstall, will I be able to only install SP2? And it will install all previous updates? This is the way they usually work right?

Anyway, I don't understand why all you people are having problems. Must be a hardware issue.

I think the file that could not be copied is the driver for the hardrive, I had the same message.

Hmm. Maybe. I dont remember the brand of my hard drive on the pc at the moment. Maybe a maxtor...

I had no problem installing it on my laptop.

I decided since there has been alot of talk about SP2 that I would load it up on one of my PC's to have a closer inspection.

Firstly from a user level:
It could be suggested that the emphasis on the usage of the Firewall, Anti-virus and auto-update could be handy towards those that are not computer literate.
Along with the additions to the browser like the "Pop-up blocker" and even a method to disable those clandestine ActiveX hijacks that lurk on some IE browsers.

(sometime a component is made just to aid with clandestinely tracking an individuals surfing habits and even capturing data like secure connections and passwords)
So the ability to disable them (although not completely delete them) is going to be of use to those that haven't just moved to Firefox just yet.

It's been preposed that it has increased the speed on some peoples computer by loading SP2, my take on this is that the DLL's throughout windows had "hooks" (A Pseudoword for terming) that could be used by programmers that knew what they were doing, some "hooks" were written in the eventuum that they might be used, while others were purely for debugging. I suggest that Microsoft has probably gone through it's DLL's and removed all redundant "hooks" ones that are either not used by their software or third parties that have asked permission to use their DLLs.

(This is why it's important to programmers that if they write a major program in the case of Microsoft products to ask permission, otherwise a service pack comes out, cuts off the hooks they use and their program becomes disfunctional.)

The removal of these "hooks" means less is loaded into the memory and therefore means potentially more memory is available, however some DLL's that are patched are significantly larger than their predecessors.

IF YOU INTEND TO GET SP2:
I would suggest those that you first make sure you have enough FREE space on your C drive, the download will be about 100mb and therefore you could suggest after that there will be decompression and even extra updates, so make sure you have at least 300mb's free for usage. (This might even mean using something like Partition magic to reorganise your drive sizes).

Make sure you have an emergency disk incase the system falls over.

I will not suggest that Bootlegged versions of XP will allow SP2, although I have reason to believe there are particular versions that can.

A question to those who have already installed SP2, did you also notice an increase in the time used for shutting down the PC? I mean, booting up seems faster, but shutting down takes about 2 minutes...

A question to those who have already installed SP2, did you also notice an increase in the time used for shutting down the PC? I mean, booting up seems faster, but shutting down takes about 2 minutes...

the opposite for me, it takes an age to boot up since sp2, but shutdown is just the same! :(

I've had the same problems with the Dr. Watson after installing the SP2. I figured out fairly quickly that I could bring my computer back to life by ending the the DrWtsn process in the Task Manager. But it kept happening when ever I tried to close a window or right-click and was making the computer unusable. So I made use of the free telephone support that MicroSoft is offering for the upgrade. I was told to stop the "Error Reporting Service" in Services. It worked for a while then started up again. Then I completely disabled "Error Reporting Service" and all was well. For a while....

Now it is happening again! I checked and Error Reporting Service is still disabled. Also, it only happens when my wife is logged in. I never have the computer freeze when I'm logged in. It is the same problem and I can bring the computer back to life by ending the Dr. Watson service. The only thing that has changed on my computer is that I recently upgraded my versions of Mozilla's Firefox browser and Thunderbird e-mail/newsgroup/RSS reader.

I'm glad I found this discussion. I will look at the articles linked to in earlier posts and let you know if I can get it to work again.

My sp2 experience went great for about 2 weeks or so then all of a sudden, the Dr. Watson thing would start happening. It would generally happen while browsing folders with a lot of files inside. I also found out that the only way to stop the "freeze" was to bring up task manager and close the process.

Stinking Microsoft. Get it together assholes.

Peaston,
If your wife has a different login to yourself then the likelihood is that your different users have different settings, so it will be turned off in your sessions and perhaps on in her's.

I didn't fully Diagnoses Dr. Watson previously because I hadn't updated straight away, now I have and currently I have yet to see any sign of the Dear Doctor.

However I will step anyone that's willing to listen through the process of turning DocWatson OFF or at least knock him down a peg or two.


First off Login as Administrator on your machine as you are going to want to set Dr Watson's configuration for "ALL" users, otherwise you'll be configuring settings on a per user basis.

Type "drwtsn32" (without the "") into the RUN... box that you'll find through the start button. This will bring up Dr Watsons settings.

It's settings should be:
Log File Path= C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Dr Watson
Crash Dump= C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Dr Watson\user.dmp

If yours are the same as stated here then don't alter them, only alter then if you Documents and Settings folder is called something different or if it says a Username instead of All Users.

You can now go about unticking the boxes so they are all empty and selecting the "Mini" radio button.

Once you "Okay" it Dr Watson should no longer be Logging.


On another topic I've been following bugtraq's through the use of newsgroups the particular one in question is muc.lists.bugtraq

It's been said on there that someone has already worked out how to get around the way SP2 asks a user if they want to allow ActiveX or Scripting from websites which is a new feature to attempt to make it secure.

Apparently the workaround allows ActiveX or Script to be executed without the authorisation being necessary with nothing more than an extra entry to a HTML page.

Hey Fellas,

First off, I'm new here, so don't yell at me if I'm in the wrong place - I've read till I'm blue in the face, but still don't necessarily have a good answer -

This whole Dr.Mortem crap - just surfaced for me, but I have a nuance that I can't seem to find any reference to - I can't get to my regedit, I can't start in safe mode, I can't do anything - when I boot up, I immediately start getting "windows explorer" errors, then the ol' doc shows up, and that's what happens - i flip flop back and forth between those two errors - If I shut doc down in task manager, two of them show up, and the whole windows explorer (so sorry for the inconvenience) just keeps popping up.

I can't click any of the icons on the desktop, and I can't get to my control panel, my computer, add/remove - nothing - due to these errors. Any advice (other than throwing the darn thing out the "window") would be appreciated.

Thankfully I didn't download XPSP2 on my laptop :o

Chicky

1. backup the essential data to your laptop (LAN) or on another hd (borrow/buy)
2. download all the critical patches and updates, burn them on a cd
3. insert you windows cd, boot, format your Windows hd
4. while formating,
-make one partition for you windows and other applications
-make another partiton for all your documents, mp3, other stuff
(estimate how much space for each you'd need)
5. unplug your network cable
6. install a fresh copy of WinXp
7. install all the patches and updates from your cd
8. plug in the network cable, set up the network
9. enjoy

---------
now, every time when you windows goes bananas, you can format only the windows/application partition and all of your documents and other data will remain untouched

It sounds like those errors are either because of a corrupt download which can occur from time to time, or from files being corrupted during the install.
XP SP2 doesn't error to everyone, I think the majority of people that have kept their systems updated beforehand install without a hitch.

NOTE: for future installers, install all the security UPDATES for your system before installing XP SP2, also make sure you have enough harddrive space on your C Drive. (You need like Gigs of space now adays)

To fix your installation, I would suggest getting your Original XP CD and to attempt to "Repair" XP by having the disc bootup. This might remove XP SP2, however should recover your OS.