I have had the XP Service Pack 2 on hold for a number of months but have not been game to install it for fear of wreckingmy stable system.I'm beginning to think I should take the plunge as I've heard that unless it is installed I will not be able to take advantage of other security updates.Are there any horror stories I should be aware of before I throw caution to the wind?ThanksAndy b

AndyWay offtopic,Moderator alerted.Troy

TroyThanks for your help. You are a real treasure - you should be buried!Actually, it is right on topic. The topic is XP Service pack 2 and the comments in my post related directly to it.Go inform the moderator of this one.Andy

Andy,IMPHO (in my personal, humble opinion), I do not use SP2 and will not use it for some time. And to my knowledge, you still get all the critical security updates that SP2 users get, as long as you have at LEAST SP1 installed. Personally, I have found that my gaming experience was slower after SP2 most likely due to new services being installed (yes, yes, you could tweak/disable them), and I uninstalled it. That has been my experience, a lot of users like SP2 because of the new "security features" like the firewall, automatic update alerts, etc. but I'm behind a router, manually update, so overall, I did not see any very significant features/performance benefits after I upgraded other than a faster boot-time.Steve

I used it on my last system, and it screwed FS9 up big time. I had to uninstallb SP2 and use system restore to get FS9 to work properly again. My new 3 month old PC, had SP2 on it when I got it. SP2 includes Data Execution Protection, and I finally had to disable DEP to keep windows explorer and IE from crashing several times a day. I would just stick to a good Anti virus and Firewall, as there are already cracks out for SP2 anyway. If it ain't broke, don't fix it/

Strangely after I went to XP2 my Reality Garmin 530 ran better with none of the previous frame rate drop. No other difference.John

I've installed SP-2 twice, then uninstalled it using system restore because FS9 frame rates wrnt to the cellar.. single digets where I had 20's to 30's. No SP-2 for this turkey!! JamesJ

Thanks for your comments. I don't have the Garmin thingy one of you mentioned and sit behind a whole mess of security - firewall etc. in addition to this I don't like the view from the cellar in any shape or form so I will continue to avoid the upgrade. Might give it a shot when I next reformat but until then will stay as I am - happy with a stable syste and double digit frameratesAndy b

I installed SP2 and noticed absolutely no difference in Flight Simulator or other applications, other than having to authorise those applications that needed to communicate with the web. This was a once off exercise the first time I used those applications.Although I don't doubt that a few people may have experienced the problems they report, if there had been extensive problems these forums would have flooded with posts about it.

>Might give it a shot when I next reformat but until then will>stay as I am - happy with a stable syste and double digit>frameratesYes, that's what I did. I had a good system running and didn't really need any of the extra's SP2 offered. Still, because SP2 would become mandatory in order to be able to update XP every now and then, and (maybe) because (who knows) some programs might require SP2 in the future, I kept the free upgrade disc at hand. A few months ago I had a complete hard disk crash so I had no choice than to install the system all over. I took the opportuniy to install SP2 immediately. I haven't had a problem with it at all, never regretted it, it's even nice to know I'm up to date now all the time, so... As far as I remember I only needed a patch for Nero Burning ROM (which was already out because SP2 itself was already released for a long time: always a great reason not to jump on the update-train immediately).I think this is the best way to do it: install SP2 on a fresh system. Gives the least problems, I think. I have to habit to install my system at least once a year (even when I do not have a hd-crash), so... I also think that when you install a lot of add-on's, it's a good idea to re-install FS too every now and then, because it's quit a 'system' on it's own...! ;)

I'm happy with SP2. No problems. Don't even know it's there. Hope it's keeping the bad guys away.Jeffrey

Have had no problems with SP2...

Have no problems whatever with SP2. The performance of FS9 was totally unaffected by the installation.I see NO downside to installation.Michael VerlinHistoric Jetliners Group

Microsoft says that about 15% of users will experience problems when they install SP2. Some people find 15% an acceptable risk level, I don't. If you read the number of posts that state, " I didn't have a problem" compared to the " It screwed up my FS9", you will probably see this 15% ratio. My way of looking at it is, if I were contemplating some "elective surgery", and the Doctor told me the risk for something really bad happening was 15%, that would be the end of my interest in that elective surgery.

I don't know why some people have probs with xp2...maybe chronic ms bashers...anyway, I have it, with all updates installed and it has not hurt fs operation in anyway i can detect.i think that paranoia about xp2 is misplaced.sherm