The XP Service Pack 2 Survival Guide

“ Give me a choice between chopping onions and installing Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, and I’ll be in the kitchen in a nanosecond–either way I’ll be crying. I finally managed the upgrade, but not without a few bumps that I’ll show you how to avoid.

There are enough good things about SP2 to make the upgrade hoops worth jumping through. SP2’s strength is behind the scenes: more protection against Internet thugs. For instance, the new ActiveX warning in Internet Explorer–called the Information Bar–alerts me whenever a site tries to download software to my system. But the browser’s new pop-up blocker is too little and way too late. (The free Google Toolbar is a better pop-up popper.)”