XP SP2 BULL!
TC,
<< That's a load of bull if you ask me. >>
Well, I'm perfectly capable of grousing about Microsoft - in the sense that although I (we) sometimes have trouble living with em, we (many of us) also have trouble living without them, and on balance they do one heck of a job with both OS and apps, and I'm kind of a Microsoft champion despite some of their tactics, and their code bloat, and the bugs (which they work out over time - usually, well, sometimes <g>).
In this case, while I was VERY pleased with the diligence and the thoroughness, of the Microsoft SP2 support tech I worked with, the episode made me seriously think about a few things.
XP Pro happens to be a GREAT OS, IMO, - the best ever, IMO - and after cutting my PC teeth on Convergent's CTOS way back when, I've used virtually every DOS (excluding 4.x) including all point releases from 2.01 forward, and Windows or WFWG (excluding ME) from 3.01 forward, and worked through the NT5 betas, etc, and on to WIN2000 that I run on my corporate laptop.
OTOH, we now have a browser intimately tied to the XP OS, and, oh yeah, now we have their firewall tied in. While it's nice to include a firewall, by all appearances their firewall isn't as capable as others that are available, and now there checking to see what AV is tied in, but they aren't rally testing against the various AV programs available.
I have my windows update option set to notify me of updates (but not install them). I exclude SP2, but every so often the SP2 override gets overridden and I'm nagged again to install it.
In the interim, I'm not confident I'm up to date with updates because theoretically the updates I should have, start with an update to SP2.
One of these rainy weekends I'll reload SP2 from CD. Before I do it I'll check out all the latest SP2 install data stories. I'll uninstall the V-COM bundle. I'll clean all the caches (I'll post a separate side story on this), and I'll clean the registry, before I reinstall.
I'll do this because I do suspect that some remnant of the V-Com bundle is probably connected to the problem I experienced, but it could be a Symantec remnant, or some other useful oddball hanging around my registry or (cleaned) caches.
<< That's a load of bull if you ask me. ... I find it hard to believe Microsoft would have the gall to tell someone to uninstall applications before installing their update. >>
I guarantee you, that each time I was told that I should (should have) UNINSTALLED all firewalls, all AV, all spyware protection - not JUST deactivated them - my antenna (and my blood pressure) went up, and in that 4 hour session I had on the phone (thank God for inventing speakerphones), when that was stated and repeated, I did get "slightly testy:"
"Wait a minute, Cynthia, are you really telling me that these need to be, should be, UNINSTALLED, before installing SP2?" :-6
I didn't say:
THAT'S a LOAD of BULL!
... but I probably should have ... <g>
... because that is exactly what was running through my mind ...
... but then again, telling that to a diligent support tech that is working with you, but didn't write the gospel, doesn't really get one anywhere.
This was NOT something she was making up, however. Her team (and she was consulting at least one level up, maybe 2) was relaying their gospel.
The good news is that the SP2 install works for the vast majority. The bad news is that it doesn't work for enough individuals. I was fortunate. I had a quick recovery (twice). We have folks that evidently are going to have to reformat and reinstall from scratch, or attempt to use the recovery console which is not an XP strong point even though it's a usable tool.
<< I don't normally rant >>
I know you don't. Neither do I - well occasionally I do to my corporate headquarters techs that I beta test for <g> - but I take em out for a beer the next time I'm on campus if I have been overly harsh with them. <ggg>
I let guys like Woody Leonhard rant at the Redmond Guru's.
<< Microsoft needs to fix their "update", not make us uninstall working applications. Sorry about the rant, but that really sucks! >>
They do. A 90+% batting average just doesn't hack it in this case, because the other % is pretty doggone big.
Best,
- Eric - |
