Gee...you must be "speculating" on what Microsoft's own list of incompatible
applications says, because I checked out the documentation and counted a
grand total of...31. In addition, there were another 30 or so that needed a
port opened manually...easy enough. Yes, technically that "broke" this
second group, but the woodworking equivalent would be to say your saw was
broken because you needed to tighten your arbor nut.

Look, I'm not a Microsoft apologist by any stretch. I think they're a
****ty company run by a worse human being, and they give the entire software
industry a bad name with their horrid QA.

But the fact of the matter is that XP was a security nightmare, and SP2
fixed the vast majority of the problems. You should have it on your
computer if you're running Windows XP. End of story.

The issue I was describing was the problem many users had when their
spyware-infected PCs crashed completely after loading SP2. Many of them
never got their PC's operating again. Was that Microsoft's fault? Nope.
By definition, spyware doesn't belong on a computer. You paid your money,
you took your chances. Microsoft now advises that you rid your computer of
spyware before you install SP2.

Common sense tells you to rid your computer of spyware anyway.

Check your attitude at the keyboard.

"Dave Hinz" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 12 Apr 2005 21:51:09 -0400, Mark Cooper
wrote:
David,

I'm in the software industry, and as I recall, SP2 mostly reaked havoc on
computers that had spyware programs running on them. If your PC was
relatively clean, you were usually okay with the install.

Microsoft's own list of incompatible applications differs from your
speculation. Couple hundred apps that it broke.