SP2 Totally Screwed up My Computer!

With the error message on the memory problem, I right-clicked My Computer,
went to Properties, Advanced tab, clicked the Settings button under the Start
up and Recovery section, and clicked the Edit button under the System startup
section, and Under [operating systems] replace the parameter /NoExecute=xxxxx
with just /Execute. Fixed it perfectly. Right click and DiVx work now. You
can try that, but back up the file first so if something else goes wrong you
don't have to re-install Windows. Good luck.

"MS" wrote:

Was running XP Pro with all the latest updates, on a Pentium 4 M, 2.0 gHz,
768 MB RAM. As I wasn't seeing SP2 on the Windows Update site, I downloaded
the Full SP2 pack (for IT Professionals). (As I have two computers, I
figured that way I wouldn't have to download it twice through Windows Update
either.) (Glad I have two computers. I'm writing now through the other one,
that didn't have SP2 installed. I cannot do anything now with the SP2
computer.) (With my dial-up connection, took a long time to download! One
full night and part of another.

The SP2 installation didn't give me any choices, no customization. On
executing the file, it went through to the end of the process, until the one
choice "do you want to re-boot now"?

First of all, a couple of minor gripes. An icon for Windows Media Player is
put in the Quick Launch bar and the Start Menu, without having consulted me.
I don't want an icon for it in the QL bar. I already have it in the Start
Menu, in a folder where I want it, I don't wish to have another icon for it.
Why is that done without asking the user?

The "Security Center" is also annoying. I don't mind it popping up at the
beginning, asking for your preferences. But that it later keeps popping up
with a warning, that "YOUR COMPUTER IS AT RISK!" CLICK ON THIS BALLOON TO
FIX IT", because I disabled "Automatic Updates" (I frequently manually
update), and because it doesn't recognize my virus scanner. (A good one,
Trend Micro, and I frequently update the virus signatures.)

I right-clicked on the Quick Launch icon for WMP, so that I could choose
delete, and delete the unwanted intruder in my QL bar. Well, rather than
seeing the context menu, I saw an hourglass, got an error message that said:

-------

Explorer.exe application error

The instruction of 0x02464156 referenced memory at 0x00000000. The memory
could not be written. (OK to terminate, Cancel to Debug)
------------
Well, whether I clicked on OK or Cancel, I then had to wait a very long time
with an hourglass, before I could do anything with the mouse again, before I
could try anything with the computer again. I went to the folder where the
Quick Launch shortcuts are kept. (They sure try to hide that--in the
"Internet Explorer" folder in Application Data". Why is it there? The Quick
Launch bar has nothing to do with IE.) I highlighted the WMP icon, and
pressed the delete key. Same result, same error message.

I was beginning to think it was a ploy by Microsoft to prevent anyone from
deleting that WMP icon. But I discovered that I would get the same result on
trying to do almost anything in Windows Explorer, including deleting files
from the Temp folder, etc. I also sometimes got a Dr. Watson error message
after that, I forget the wording.

I went to Control Panel and disabled the new Windows Firewall, thinking that
might be the source of the problem. I went to "services" under
"Administrative Tools", and changed any service that looked new and
suspicious to me to "Manual", instead of "Automatic". This included
disabling the Security Center. But no matter what I tried, including
rebooting in between, nothing solved the described problem.

Booting up is also MUCH slower than before, like molasses, although I have
all startup programs currently disabled, and turned off many of the
automatic services.

I am on the verge of uninstalling XP2. If I do so, I certainly hope it
reconfigures my system to how it was before the install. Anyone done that
yet?

Before I do so, if anyone can give me advice on how to fix the problem I am
having with SP2, please let me know. Something to change in configuration
somehow. Some Windows tweak? Registry change?

To those who have been successful in installing SP2, do you really find any
improvement in it? In what ways? Only security, the Windows Firewall, etc.?
Other improvements?

I thought this product was in Beta a long time. You think they would have
thoroughly tested it, and worked out all the bugs. It sure didn't work well
for me so far. (Perhaps they want to fix it more before putting it on
Windows Update. But why put out the final release for "IT Professionals",
who might install it for a whole company, and then find out it screwed up
many of the company's computers?

What's up with this SP2?

If anyone can help me, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.