microsoft xp sp2 ... more patched holes than a city block !

Published on August 18, 2004 By mignuna In Personal Computing

*by nick farrell at the enquirer.com

microsoft has revealed how many fixes and updates are under the bonnet of its windows xp service pack 2.

according to its site, more than 150 fixes and updates are included in the upgrade. if you want a detailed look, the page is here: Link

most of the fixes and updates are to networking aspects of xp with 138 focused on the base operating system. nearly a hundred are listed as security fixes.

sp2 corrects problems in internet explorer, the shell, outlook express, multimedia, printing, program compatibility, remote desktop, setup, video, windows management instrumentation and more.

not bad for a bit of software which was marketed as the most secure operating system available when it was first released.

*full article at the enquirer.net Link

Comments

kingbee

on Aug 18, 2004

here's a pretty decent article about it as well. describes how f-protect (the anti-virus provider) reverse-engineered it zdnetuk

mignuna

on Aug 18, 2004

here's a pretty decent article about it as well. describes how f-protect (the anti-virus provider) reverse-engineered it

king, it was talking to you that made me do this !

i'll check that out hehe

vanessa XXX

citahellion

on Aug 18, 2004

Makes you wonder how many more they missed, doesn't it? :-/

kingbee

on Aug 18, 2004

not bad for a bit of software which was marketed as the most secure operating system available when it was first released

got that right mig! unfortunately what bill gates meant by most secure (that it would be difficult to pirate) and what consumers believed he was saying (not as easily exploitable) were two different things. as it turned out it wasnt most secure by any definition.

mignuna

on Aug 18, 2004

Makes you wonder how many more they missed, doesn't it?

i'm sure we shall soon see, citahellion !

unfortunately what bill gates meant by most secure (that it would be difficult to pirate) and what consumers believed he was saying (not as easily exploitable) were two different things

exactly, king !

thanks for your comments, guys

vanessa/mig XX

psychx

on Aug 19, 2004

I guess we have to keep dealing with all these upgrades and holes found in their software for another 2 years until Longhorn is slated for release.

citahellion

on Aug 19, 2004

Only if you keep using Windows....

mignuna

on Aug 19, 2004

I guess we have to keep dealing with all these upgrades and holes found in their software for another 2 years until Longhorn is slated for release

carlos !, i am going to look into this "longhorn" now...thanks ! ... and where have you been ?

Only if you keep using Windows....

citahellion, you can't just say that and then run away !. elaborate ?. (share that amazing mind of yours !).

vanessa/mig XX

psychx

on Aug 20, 2004

Only if you keep using Windows....

I work a full time job and go to school full time. I wish I had time for linux. I barely have time to customize my desktop pc with windows as it is...

carlos !, i am going to look into this "longhorn" now...thanks ! ... and where have you been ?

Yeah, sorry for the absence, I actually suffered the effects of Hurricane Charley here in Orlando FL. Somewhere near 500,000 people lost power here locally. There were a lot of downed trees and powerlines. I lost power for a few days and my job was closed for a few days after the storm so I had no access to the internet or electricity. Everything seems to be getting back to normal here though, I have power and water back now, although that is more than I can say for the areas that were hit directly.

Amitty

on Aug 20, 2004

Longhorn: Release dated : fourth Quater 2006

Estimated number of security holes in Windows XP Home/Professional: 2667 at last count. (not including currently patched problems. Microsoft estimates that for every patch, the resulting patch opens at least two more issues within Windows XP itself, due, in part, to dead ended coding that can be activated)

Number of expected 'holes' in Windows Longhorn: 5000+

I got this all straight from my old bosses at Microsoft. It seems that before Xp was in Final Release (RC2), there were over 23,000 holes. At least they are attempting to correct stuff before hand.

citahellion

on Aug 20, 2004

If you have a bootable CD drive, you can try the KNOPPIX distribution of Linux. Boots directly from the CD, doesn't futz with your hard disk at all, no need to worry about anything.
Of course Linux is only the most popular alternative; you could also get a Macintosh, or run any of several other Unix variants (FreeBSD, Minix, HURD, etc.), or even something like OS/2 Warp (or eComServer as they're now calling the latest version).

davad70

on Nov 04, 2004

Uhhh.....Thanks for the info mr. mortgage loan calculator. I've been searching high and low for a good mortgage loan calculator AND a movado watch!

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