If you have Windows XP, you’ve probably heard about Service Pack 2 being released. They don’t make it easy to find the support page, but you’ll probably need it: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;windowsxpsp2

Many software vendors are making updates to their programs to get them to work properly again, because the upgrade breaks a lot of stuff. MS’s page Using programs and hardware with Service Pack 2 (SP2) provides lists of programs that either “behave differently” or “stop working”. They’re long lists that includes their own products, the major anti-virus programs, and much more.

Make sure you have a lot of spare time, especially if you use dial up connection: The total download size may be as small as 70 megabytes (MB) or as large as 260 MB. With a 50k connection speed, that’s 41,600 seconds, or about 11½ hours. I read that the upgrade installation can take between 30 minutes and two hours. That’s after the download is complete.

SP2 also makes web pages behave differently; it: disallows ActiveX, disallows Java and prompts for script running. Lots of websites use scripting for their pages. If it’s really doing what it sounds like, disabling javascript, there’s going to be a lot of sites that need to be rewritten and will lose their dropdown menus. I would guess that upwards of 25% of pages, including most major commercial pages, would have to be updated. Many, although not completely based on script, still use it in a couple of places.

I can’t wait to get my upgrade and watch things break!