service pack 2 for win xp. good...?

17poundr

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:( I just got my pc rebuilt, and guess what? My lan connection (asdl is it's name in finland), went bust! I am having the 'pc curse' when things go wrong, they go wrong alot!
After battling with a bin that has gone to the 'doctor' for four times in this autumn, I got fedup, and basically rebuilt the whole thing.
And I come home, and the instant upgrade of windows xp says you can get some upgrades, I press download, and whopee! I am the somewhat suprised owner of service pack 2.

Now, somewhat mysterisously, my ASDL or LAN connection, is bust, I have phoned my operator for a week now, and today I visited their main shop in town.

Can anybody share warnings about service pack 2? Especially the firewall protection?

As I just got also the Battlefield 42 anthology (three games, the first and two follow ups) I am wondering if they can be played realtime on the net, and if so this is the wrong place, but I figured someone will know here.

So, my appologies to everyone I have wished to game with, I am experiencing pc hell, which hopefully will be history soon!

P.s. started an operation on combat mission 2, with the germans doing the bliz in russia in 41, and damn! I am getting my backside kikked! Its a good omen, like the old squad leader boardgame, one really haves to think one's moves, or your troops are mincemeat and scrap metal!
It's good to get a game where you need to learn and think, and with a live opponent (I'll get there someday, after this weekend hopefully!)...

So, just a thought, but the service pack 2 firewall might be a trouble for online gaming...

P.S. any thoughts on how to get your mission done within a timeframe, I know sneaking infantry before you charge in with your tanks is smart ect, but the damn turns run out if I do it by the book! My scout cars are especailly a delicasy for the Soviet anti tank guns and squads!
Also, anybody in the know of realtime playing of Sturmovik, please give any warnings or info about firewalls, or the service pack 2 question, I read in a Finn pc mag, that although a 95% good thing the service pack does have some glithches in it...

mr poundr.
 

MajorH

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I have installed Service Pack 2 on three PCs over the last few weeks with no problems at all. I don't currently play Combat Mission online but TacOps uses very similar TCP/IP code (i.e. OpenPlay) and I have done online TacOps play since adding SP2. However, my PCs were very clean before I installed SP2. No spyware, no viruses, and I uninstalled third party firewall and anti-virus programs beforehand.

One TacOps customer reported problems with TacOps and other online games after installing SP2. The problems disappeared after he did a clean Windows reinstall and then added SP2.

Your mileage may vary.
 

The Purist

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Hello, 17 pdr,

I have service pack 2 and am having no real problems other than I need to disable the 'hide task bar' function. No bad effect with PBEM games in CM.

CBBB - 1941 Operation. :D I played that one as well when I first got the game. The first day is interesting but the second day is worse. As a rule the first thing I had to learn was that it is not possible to advance and not take casualties. Set up most of your people in an overwatch position and send out a 'volunteer'. The computer will unmask its weapons and then you can begin dismantling the defense.

Attack on narrow fronts so that you can overwhelm sections of the AIs front and then role up the line, or, use pincers at either end of the map and then swing inwards. The further you penetrate before swing in behind the AI the more like you will be able to destroy most of the defenses. Kill as much as you can and take the village, if you can,...deny the enemy reinforcements the cover for day two.

Have fun,...by the way. Once you get the hang of it,...the AI gets a lot easier to defeat. Then you can play humans and have to learn a whole new set of tactics. :laugh:

Good luck.

Edit: Eeeekkkk!!! My stripes,...my beautiful stripes!!! :cry:
 
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jthomas

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I just had a similar problem- In my case, evidently SP2 has its own firewall that installs itself, in addition to anyother firewall program you may already have. I had McAfee Personal Firewall running, the SP2 comes along and installs itself, essentially locking down all the ports (this is what I was told by Verizon tech support, anyway).

So you may want to try making sure that SP2's firewall is turned off, and try your connectivity then. If you want the SP2 firewall, then you will have to tweak it manually to get the connectivity back.
 

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Hey 17pdr...just happen to come across this :D.

Service Pack 2 shouldn't have any problems...a lot of the reported problems are from the firewall, which can be easily disabled.
 

Palantir

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gobeavs said:
Service Pack 2 shouldn't have any problems...a lot of the reported problems are from the firewall, which can be easily disabled.
As a service to our members can you please list "how" (the exact steps) for those who may need help to do so. I'm sure they will appreciate it if required!
 

gobeavs

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Palantir said:
As a service to our members can you please list "how" (the exact steps) for those who may need help to do so. I'm sure they will appreciate it if required!
Sure!

Go to your control panel (usually by Start>control panel)
Then select "Security Center" (with a shield icon)
Then in that windows, at the bottom under "Manage security settings for" select "Windows Firewall".
Then select "Off"

Make sure you have a hardware firewall (like in your cable/dsl router), or a personal firewall like Zonealarm. Since if you don't have a firewall your computer is open to hackers.

If there are any other questions, feel free to ask. I live to help people with computers :D.
 

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Hey oh "One who lives to help people with computers" :D

From the "ones who's mysteries of the PC can not be fathomed" :confused:

Thanks for that info.

Can this firewall not simply be turned "off" for the gaming session then turned back "on" once finished playing?

What happens if you turn it back on WHILE playing TCP? Do you get cut off?

I have not had the opportunity to TCP in a while myself.
 

gobeavs

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Palantir said:
Can this firewall not simply be turned "off" for the gaming session then turned back "on" once finished playing?
Yes, that should work.

What happens if you turn it back on WHILE playing TCP? Do you get cut off?

I have not had the opportunity to TCP in a while myself.
I bet you would get cut off. And this is all assuming that it interferes with the game. It may very well not, its just that normally the firewall would see that TCP port opening, and close it to not allow any unauthorized traffic in/out, therefore stopping the game. If you turn it on while in game, I think it would close that port. I would say just leave the firewall on (if you don't already have one), then if you have connection problems, just turn it off.

Like I said earlier, the vast majority of cable/dsl routers (what you plug all of the computer ethernet connections into) have a built-in firewall.
 

17poundr

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gobeavs said:
Hey 17pdr...just happen to come across this :D.

Service Pack 2 shouldn't have any problems...a lot of the reported problems are from the firewall, which can be easily disabled.
So if I have a firewall from my anivirus company f-secure, then I would not need service pack 2, or does it have other benefits exept the firewall, like speeded functions for a pentium 4 processor, or anything else that comes to mind???
 

gobeavs

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17poundr said:
So if I have a firewall from my anivirus company f-secure, then I would not need service pack 2, or does it have other benefits exept the firewall, like speeded functions for a pentium 4 processor, or anything else that comes to mind???
I would recommend getting it, and then disabling the firewall. The main feature of SP2 was the firewall, but it also has enhanced wireless networking, and security fixes. It also includes things like a pop-up blocker for IE, if you still use it. IMO its just better to keep XP up-to-date, unless it is harmful; which it shouldn't be. Once you disable the firewall.

It shouldn't have any speed benefits.
 

17poundr

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gobeavs said:
I would recommend getting it, and then disabling the firewall. The main feature of SP2 was the firewall, but it also has enhanced wireless networking, and security fixes. It also includes things like a pop-up blocker for IE, if you still use it. IMO its just better to keep XP up-to-date, unless it is harmful; which it shouldn't be. Once you disable the firewall.

It shouldn't have any speed benefits.
What would you use instead of internet explorer? And where would a chap get a copy, maybe for free???
 

Palantir

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FYI:
I just recently tried to TCP'd CMBO and the Service Pack initially blocked it, but a box was also present asking if I wanted to keep blocking the "BO connection" or allow it.

I just clicked "allow" and I didn't have any further problems TCP'ing.
 

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17poundr said:
What would you use instead of internet explorer? And where would a chap get a copy, maybe for free???
Firefox or Opera.

www.mozilla.org and www.opera.com

Firefox and Opera both have what is called "tabbed browsing". Instead of opening up 5 IE windows to have 5 different web sites open, you can just have 1 Firefox window open, and within that have different "tabs" with different web sites. Both of them also have pop-up blocking built in. Opera can even open up the tabs that were left when you last closed it out (even if the computer was turned off). Also, they don't have the security vulnerabilities that go with IE. IE has holes that allow malicous applications to get on your computer.

Granted, even though it was before Service Pack 2 (which fixed some holes), our US Governent warned against using IE. Still, SP2 didn't fix all of the problem. Plus, it doesn't have the features other browsers have.

@ Palantir:
Hey, thats good to know. Sounds like it works kind of like Zonealarm, where it asks whether it wants you to allow things or not...you may run into problems with it though; hopefully you won't.
 

17poundr

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Thankyou ever so much! I downloaded opera, because my dad uses it, and I would like to have someone who uses it around incase i make a mess, remember I emerged from three weeks of pc hell, so I'm a bit nervous about new connections and the LAN, if you think there is anythihng else but firing the install from the download, with a LAN connection please let me know, I will wait for a couple of days befoe I install just incase there is something to know, but everybody is saying IE, is rubbish, so hopefully I'll be a happier guy in a couple of days, also, I think the packet included an upgrade for my dad who has a slow connection, I can put the whole thing on my half meg flash rom (you know those usb things the size of a cicarrette lighter) and give him a boost too!
Thankyou again.
mr poundr.
 

gobeavs

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17poundr said:
Thankyou ever so much! I downloaded opera, because my dad uses it, and I would like to have someone who uses it around incase i make a mess, remember I emerged from three weeks of pc hell, so I'm a bit nervous about new connections and the LAN, if you think there is anythihng else but firing the install from the download, with a LAN connection please let me know, I will wait for a couple of days befoe I install just incase there is something to know, but everybody is saying IE, is rubbish, so hopefully I'll be a happier guy in a couple of days, also, I think the packet included an upgrade for my dad who has a slow connection, I can put the whole thing on my half meg flash rom (you know those usb things the size of a cicarrette lighter) and give him a boost too!
Thankyou again.
mr poundr.
No problem! If your PC is connected to the internet, Opera should work with no configuration (unless you are using some fancy setup, like a proxy server). Just make sure that your Dad has the same version of windows (98, 2000, XP) as you do, or if he doesn't get him the Opera for his version. There are different Opera versions for each version of Windows XP.
 

17poundr

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gobeavs said:
No problem! If your PC is connected to the internet, Opera should work with no configuration (unless you are using some fancy setup, like a proxy server). Just make sure that your Dad has the same version of windows (98, 2000, XP) as you do, or if he doesn't get him the Opera for his version. There are different Opera versions for each version of Windows XP.
After mucho advice, I have downloaded (but not installed) Opera, Firefox and Palantir!

Someone said opera has bugs (sigh), and I hear Palantir is good, so I got that too, and ofcouse Firefox.
Can I run more than one browser at a time? Not that I particuarly want to.

Which one is your favourite? The Palantir download had screenshots and it looked fine.
But I'm a bit confused, also...Do I need to somehow get rid of internet explorer before I install one of the above mentioned?

Mr Poundr.
 

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I've been using Firefox for a while now and I have to say that I find the IE interface a little 'clunky' when I go back to it. There are a few sites that IE renders a bit better than Firefox but apart from that I can't recommend it more highly.
 

17poundr

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Full Monty said:
I've been using Firefox for a while now and I have to say that I find the IE interface a little 'clunky' when I go back to it. There are a few sites that IE renders a bit better than Firefox but apart from that I can't recommend it more highly.
HOW APPROPRIATE THAT I GOT FIREFOX GOING TODAY, AND AM USING IT RIGHT N0W..!
P.S. AS THRE IS NOT MUCH DIFFERENCE IN THE OUTLOOK BETWEEN IE AND FIREFOX, WHAT IS THE ADVANTAGE OF FIREFOX? IT WORKS JUST AS GOOD AS IE IMHO...

NEVERMIND, IF I GET FEDUP, I STILL HAVE OPERA I CAN FIRE UP!
 
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