N Abstentia Thanks XP SP 2

[hershon]

Well you've been right on all the previous advice you've given me so I took a leap of faith & installed SP2 as you recommended & haven't had an problems whatsoever especially none with Nero software. The only thing that seems different on the negative side is it takes about 2 minutes longer to load my desktop when I boot my computer as each shortcut on it is initially "not filled in" & gets "filled in" individually not everything at once.

[NickWH]

Everyone running Windows XP at home should install Service Pack 2. It's a no-brainer, the pop-up blocker and firewall improvements are welcome additions.

If you haven't tried Microsoft's (Giant Software) Anti-Spyware software yet (it's a free Beta), I encourage you to try that as well:

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

BTW, to improve the performance of your computer, take the following steps:

- Run the Disk Cleanup wizard
- Defragment your hard drive
- Run "chkdsk /F" at a command prompt on your C: drive and reboot - this repairs the filesystem (events like unclean shutdowns and crashes can cause filesystem errors)

[N. Abstentia]

Glad you stepped up, Hershon!

I guess for me also Msoft's service packs are just a no-brainer, they have been ever since the NT4.0 days.

[Hawkeye]

Since switching to Firefox when version 1 was released, I haven't seen a pop-up. Also using Zone Alarm for firewall. So far, so good. For these reasons, I'm hesitant to install SP2, but may yet.

N. Absentia, I take it you're a Porcupine Tree fan. Have you heard the Blackfield cd yet? I got it a couple weeks ago and really like it.

[N. Abstentia]

I actually use Google Toolbar to block popups, I don't like the one with SP2.

Blackfield is good, just not as good as I had hoped. It's not phenomenal like In Absentia was when I first heard it, but there is some good stuff there. I'm counting the days until the new PT comes out!

[Hawkeye]

Blackfield is good, just not as good as I had hoped. It's not phenomenal like In Absentia was when I first heard it, but there is some good stuff there. I'm counting the days until the new PT comes out! Blackfield is really growing on me the more I hear it. A bit mellower than In Absentia, but with all the darkness of a typical PT release.

BTW, have you heard the single, "Shallow" from Deadwing? Its been circulating on the web for the last few days? I heard it the other day, a bit on the heavy side. For me, it'll take some getting used to.