Security Concerns
Of course, the big focus has been security, and here the issue is more complex. There seems to be general agreement that the protections in SP2 are better than no protection. On the other hand, many security experts are concerned that SP2 will give customers a false sense of security, and a few worry that some of the new security features themselves will be open for attack. A number of the concerns deal with the Windows Firewall, which only protects your computer against inbound traffic, as opposed to all the third-party firewalls (such as ZoneAlarm, Norton Internet Security, etc.), which also control Internet access for the programs on your computer, and thus provide more protection against things like Trojan horses. My own take: The Windows Firewall is a good thing, just because so many people do not run software firewalls. But if you're serious about security, I recommend both a hardware firewall and a third-party software firewall. I've noticed that the latest versions of the firewalls ask if you want to turn off the Windows Firewall, so you only run one at a time. A bigger question is whether the new Security Center, which displays the state of your firewall, antivirus software, and Windows updates, is itself a target for hackers. We've recently received some reports about the possibility of a rogue application using the technologies underneath the Security Center (specifically the Windows Management Instrumentation subsystem and Web-Based Enterprise Management) to spoof a new program, or just present incorrect information. For more details, see our Security Watch column. We haven't seen any exploits of this potential vulnerability so far, but it's clearly an area that's ripe for a problem, and one Microsoft needs to worry about. Another area that has generated some concern is the security zones feature which some researchers fear could be used to trick users into opening a malicious file. We do know that some of the other fixes added to SP2 are already having an impact. A new Internet worm out last week (Download.Ject) posed a threat to other versions of XP, but didn't affect SP2 users. Again, it seems like installing SP2 is better than nothing, but it's certainly no "magic bullet" – users still need to watch out for security issues. And you know there will be other exploits, as the people who write them keep looking for other holes, and are almost certain to find some in SP2—or in any other OS, for that matter.

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Where Is the Security?
One question I've repeatedly gotten comes from readers who have installed SP2, but don't see the Security Center showing up on their system. In most cases, the answer is that they're using managed desktops, and their security settings are handled by an IT department. In that case, you can still find the Security Center, by clicking on the icon in the control panel. You'll typically see a message telling you that your system is managed by a network administrator. Another question I've gotten quite often regards a feature called data execution prevention (DEP), which uses both hardware and software to allow software to run only in memory explicitly marked for running applications. This would prevent certain threats that involve exploits that write unexpected pages in memory. Currently, this feature only works with the NX or No-eXecute feature in AMD's Athlon 64 and Opteron chips. Intel has announced a similar feature (Execute Disable) for future chips, but is not shipping it yet. Again, this should add an extra degree of protection, but for now is available only for AMD systems. (And again, a couple of applications, notably PaintShop Pro, have had trouble installing on such systems, but there is a simple workaround.

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Additional Features
Windows XP SP2 bundles up a number of smaller changes that haven't gotten as much attention, but are worth noting. Two of the most important deal with connectivity. First, SP2 includes Bluetooth Client 2.0, a major upgrade to the Bluetooth stack. If you have a Bluetooth radio, a new control-panel applet appears, along with a wizard for finding and configuring Bluetooth devices. It also includes a method of locking a device so it will only connect to a single PC. And the wireless options have increased, as well, through a new wireless network connection screen that makes it easier to set up and connect to a wireless network. This interface is much cleaner that previous versions, making it easier to see the list of available networks and signal strength. A new Wireless Network Setup Wizard eases network setup, and includes a nice feature that lets you move your wireless settings to a USB flash drive, so you can set up additional computers more easily. In general, I like the look of the new wireless client, although I have had some unexplained difficulties connecting to one protected network I often use. Other changes in this version include big new features for tablet PC users, and Windows Media Player version 9. WMP version 10 is well into its beta-test cycle, and we expect Microsoft to ship it shortly.

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Bottom Line
So should you upgrade? For most people, there isn't any choice – it will come automatically, and if you don't upgrade, you're leaving yourself open to even more exploits – those that are already around. If you have a dial-up connection, the upgrade will take a while (perhaps several weeks with intermittent connections). Corporate customers, of course, need to make sure that it doesn't break any substantial applications. Will you be happy with the upgrade? My guess is most users will be, though I expect we'll still continue to see lots of threats aimed at Windows. After all, it's still the most popular and widely used platform, and thus the biggest target for hackers. For maximum security, you might want to have multiple platforms, or at least multiple browsers (See our story, "Is Microsoft to Blame?".)