SP2 upgrade question, need advice, please

[yy4me]

I just received a notice this morning from Microsoft that updates for SP1 will end in the early fall. I never installed SP2 because of advice given to me by a computer repair shop last fall. It seems that according to them, there were too many bugs in the program at that time and that I should wait. Well, the time is here, I guess. Since I am a computer illiterate, is the process simple? Will I run into things that I don't expect and that I will not be able to do once I start the process? I now have the Microsoft firewall, SpywareBlaster, Spybot S&D, AdAware SE and a pop-up blocker for security. Do I have to uninstall anything? That might be a problem for me since I don't know how to uninstall the Microsoft firewall. I was told that it had to go before I do the upgrade. I do know about the uninstall option on the control panel for the spyware stuff but not about the firewall. What about the printer, any problem there? I have an HP 3-in-1 printer. My computer is an HP Pavilion 526X. Sometimes I really miss the old days. This stuff is too complicated for this old Granny. Any help or guidance would be appreciated.

[welshTerrier2]

1. no anti-virus program?

i installed sp2 and didn't have any problems but i think i'll let others provide more detailed advice ...

Microsoft Firewall is an excellent product .. you can probably just turn it off rather than uninstalling it if that's a requirement of the SP2 upgrade ... to do this, you can right click on the computer icon near your system clock ... this pops up a little menu (you can also get to this setting by opening your "Control Panel" from the "Start" menu and opening the "Windows Firewall" program settings (double click it)) ... one of the options on the menu is: "Change Windows Firewall Settings" ... click this option and the Windows Firewall settings pops up ... to turn off the firewall, just select "Off" in the "General" tab ... only do this just before you start the upgrade; otherwise, leave it "On" ...

finally, you didn't mention any anti-virus programs ... if you're not running one, you should be ... people here, myself included, seem to prefer Free AVG ...

you can download Free AVG from this link:
http://free.grisoft.com/softw/70free/setup/avg71free_394a752.exe

or by visiting this web page:
http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5

good luck with the sp2 upgrade ... it might be helpful to other posters to mention which operating system you're running ... is it Windows XP?

[yy4me]

5. Oops, I forgot, I have AVG. and am using Windows XP

Thanks for your help; I never saw the "Windows Firewall" but am off to check that out.

[charlie]

2. I held off updating for a long while myself

Let someone else beta test MS's stuff until the kinks are worked out, I wasn't about to do it.

You don't have to uninstall Windows firewall (I doubt you could without serious tinkering anyway). In fact, a beefed-up version is one of the things SP2 is going to install.

If you use the Windows Restore thing, set a restore point.

Before you do a major update, it's always a good idea to back up stuff you'd really regret losing. Docs, files, pictures, movies, music, whatever -- if you'll shed a tear when it's gone, burn it to disk. And check the copy on disk to make sure it took.

Download driver updates for your devices. You can get your printer driver here:

http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html?pageDisplay=drivers

You can install them right away, but I'd hold off if everything is already working to your liking and trouble-free. Sometimes new drivers can introduce problems of their own or install new "features" that you might not like. But driver conflicts are not an uncommon source of trouble after an OS upgrade, so you'll want them on hand. Burn them to disk.

Now's a good time to update any major software you regularly use. Visit their sites and if your version is behind and there's a free update, download and install it. And again, burn it to disk to be safe.

Hold your breath and do the SP2 upgrade. It should be painless, it is more often than not anymore.

After the upgrade, you might have to "retrain" the firewall. I'm not sure, I always disable it and use 3rd party software. But you'll probably see alerts, "Windows firewall has blocked this or that, blah, blah" until you get it set to recognize your devices and software suite.

If you use Internet Explorer, it'll be more annoying than ever, spawning alerts and warnings every which way. This is a good thing, though the implementation is hamfisted. If you can't get used to it, you might want to look into some of the other fine browsers available, like Firefox or Opera.

SP2 also updates some of your media software, like Movie Maker and Media Player 9. So, expect popups urging you to install the downloaded updates when you click on a media file.

[charlie]

3. Oh, and one other thing

If I remember correctly, sometime during the install you'll be offered the option to save old system files. To be safe, it'd be a good idea to use it, so you can roll back to SP1 if the update causes trouble you can't readily fix. Be mindful though, that it uses a crapload of disk space, 300-some megabytes, so make sure you have that much available on your system partition if you're going to do it.

[RoyGBiv]

6. Seconded ...

If anything -- and I mean anything -- interrupts the process and you haven't backed up or at least set a restore point, you're hosed.

I only had an issue once installing SP2, and it was due to a power outage in the midst of the process. "Luckily" I was doing this on a new install after building my daughter's computer a couple years ago, so all I really lost was time. Because it was a new install, I didn't bother to back anything up or set a restore point, and I had to start from scratch. I figured out later I could have forced it to go ahead and complete -- the system would boot at least, but was impossible to use -- but it would have been an enormous pain.

I'd also suggest a disc clean, check the disc for errors, and defrag it first as well.

[Nomad559]

4. Clean your system of ALL spyware

It has been said that spyware can cause problems while Installing SP2, so do a spyware scan of your system before Installing SP2.

Do a on-line scan at Trend Micro -Housecall- for spyware and viruses.

http://housecall.trendmicro.com

:)