Advance notice about SP2 launch date?

Is it likely that Microsoft will give the public advance notice as to
exactly when XP SP2 will be released? Perhaps a day or two in advance? I
thought it might be a good idea to format my computer's hard drive and
reinstall XP SP1 shortly beforehand, just so everything is fresh and clean
before the massive upgrade of SP2.

You will NOT have to install SP1 prior to installing SP2.

SP2 has it all!

--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)

"History Fan" wrote in message
...
Is it likely that Microsoft will give the public advance notice as to
exactly when XP SP2 will be released? Perhaps a day or two in advance? I
thought it might be a good idea to format my computer's hard drive and
reinstall XP SP1 shortly beforehand, just so everything is fresh and clean
before the massive upgrade of SP2.

Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-) wrote:

You will NOT have to install SP1 prior to installing SP2.

SP2 has it all!


To add to Crusty's sage advise:

And wait at least a week after release to see if all the morons in a mad
rush to install it, find any problems with SP2. Then when you are
reasonably certain nothing major is wrong with it, create a slipstreamed XP
SP2 install CD, and use that to create a clean install.

--
Peace!
Kurt
Self-anointed Moderator
microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
http://microscum.com
"Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei!"

On Mon, 7 Jun 2004 19:45:33 -0400, "History Fan"
wrote:

Is it likely that Microsoft will give the public advance notice as to
exactly when XP SP2 will be released? Perhaps a day or two in advance? I
thought it might be a good idea to format my computer's hard drive and
reinstall XP SP1 shortly beforehand, just so everything is fresh and clean
before the massive upgrade of SP2.

They'll give advance warning. Then please hurry and get it and
install it and let us know about all the "bugs". Be the first to
screw up your machine. Of course your machine will be fresh and
clean, all prepared for the kill!

CS wrote:

On Mon, 7 Jun 2004 19:45:33 -0400, "History Fan"
wrote:

Is it likely that Microsoft will give the public advance notice
as to exactly when XP SP2 will be released? Perhaps a day or two in
advance? I thought it might be a good idea to format my computer's
hard drive and reinstall XP SP1 shortly beforehand, just so
everything is fresh and clean before the massive upgrade of SP2.

They'll give advance warning. Then please hurry and get it and
install it and let us know about all the "bugs". Be the first to
screw up your machine. Of course your machine will be fresh and
clean, all prepared for the kill!

ROFL! I prefer mine medium rare please!

--
Peace!
Kurt
Self-anointed Moderator
microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
http://microscum.com
"Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei!"

In ,
History Fan typed:

Is it likely that Microsoft will give the public advance
notice
as to exactly when XP SP2 will be released? Perhaps a day or
two in
advance?


I don't know how much advance notice there will be, but yes, it's
very likely there will be some.


I thought it might be a good idea to format my computer's
hard drive and reinstall XP SP1 shortly beforehand, just so
everything is fresh and clean before the massive upgrade of
SP2.


Personally I think it's a terrible idea. It's rarely, if ever, a
good idea to reformat and reinstall Windows. With a modicum of
care, it should never be necessary to reinstall Windows (XP or
any other version). I've run Windows 3.0, 3.1, WFWG 3.11, Windows
95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP, each for the period
of time before the next version came out, and each on two
machines here. I never reinstalled any of them, and I have never
had anything more than an occasional minor problem.

It's my belief that this mistaken notion stems from the technical
support people at many of the larger OEMs. Their solution to
almost any problem they don't quickly know the answer to is
"reformat and reinstall." That's the perfect solution for them.
It gets you off the phone quickly, it almost always works, and it
doesn't require them to do any real troubleshooting (a skill that
most of them obviously don't possess in any great degree).

But it leaves you with all the work and all the problems. You
have to restore all your data backups, you have to reinstall all
your programs, you have to reinstall all the Windows and
application updates,you have to locate and install all the needed
drivers for your system, you have to recustomize Windows and all
your apps to work the way you're comfortable with.

Besides all those things being time-consuming and troublesome,
you may have trouble with some of them: can you find all your
application CDs? Can you find all the needed installation codes?
Do you have data backups to restore? Do you even remember all the
customizations and tweaks you may have installed to make
everything work the way you like?

Occasionally there are problems that are so difficult to solve
that Windows should be reinstalled cleanly. But they are few and
far between; reinstallation should not be a substitute for
troubleshooting; it should be a last resort, to be done only
after all other attempts at troubleshooting by a qualified person
have failed.

Reformatting and reinstalling prophylactically, as you suggest
here, is even a worse idea. Why not just install SP2 when it
comes out. *If* you then have insoluble problems (which is very
unlikely), you can always reinstall afterwards. Why go through
all the work and potential problems of reinstalling before you've
ascertained that you need to?

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

Ken,

You posted a polite reply. Is that a requirement as an
MVP?

Not too long ago (under a pseudonym) I noticed there were
many posts whereby the OPs decided to reinstall Windows.
I replied in a pleasant, annoyed manner wondering why so
many people were in such a rush to reinstall Windows or
reformat their HD. I would think either of these
alternatives should be done in *rare* instances.

Boy, did people jump on me for that post. Kind of
like, "remember when you were a novice..." Well I may
have been a novice but I wasn't a moron.

What I surmise is that these OPs have hit on a great
fix. Reformatting and reinstalling is a superb fix. It
fixes everything!!!! Then, after the fact, they
notice....Oh sh!@t, I have to reinstall everything, redo
all my updates and, oh no, for the life of Reilly, all my
tweaks are gone.

Then they come groveling back....Hey Mr. MVP, I have a
problem. Don't you just want to say, just once, "Gee, I
feel real bad for ya, I do.....idiot."

I'm just getting less tolerant than I used to be and I
never had much of it to start with. Stupidity just rubs
me the wrong way.

Just Being,

Mr. Reality
-----Original Message-----
In ,
History Fan typed:

Is it likely that Microsoft will give the public
advance
notice
as to exactly when XP SP2 will be released? Perhaps a
day or
two in
advance?


I don't know how much advance notice there will be, but
yes, it's
very likely there will be some.


I thought it might be a good idea to format my
computer's
hard drive and reinstall XP SP1 shortly beforehand,
just so
everything is fresh and clean before the massive
upgrade of
SP2.


Personally I think it's a terrible idea. It's rarely, if
ever, a
good idea to reformat and reinstall Windows. With a
modicum of
care, it should never be necessary to reinstall Windows
(XP or
any other version). I've run Windows 3.0, 3.1, WFWG
3.11, Windows
95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP, each for
the period
of time before the next version came out, and each on two
machines here. I never reinstalled any of them, and I
have never
had anything more than an occasional minor problem.

It's my belief that this mistaken notion stems from the
technical
support people at many of the larger OEMs. Their
solution to
almost any problem they don't quickly know the answer to
is
"reformat and reinstall." That's the perfect solution
for them.
It gets you off the phone quickly, it almost always
works, and it
doesn't require them to do any real troubleshooting (a
skill that
most of them obviously don't possess in any great
degree).

But it leaves you with all the work and all the
problems. You
have to restore all your data backups, you have to
reinstall all
your programs, you have to reinstall all the Windows and
application updates,you have to locate and install all
the needed
drivers for your system, you have to recustomize Windows
and all
your apps to work the way you're comfortable with.

Besides all those things being time-consuming and
troublesome,
you may have trouble with some of them: can you find all
your
application CDs? Can you find all the needed
installation codes?
Do you have data backups to restore? Do you even
remember all the
customizations and tweaks you may have installed to make
everything work the way you like?

Occasionally there are problems that are so difficult to
solve
that Windows should be reinstalled cleanly. But they are
few and
far between; reinstallation should not be a substitute
for
troubleshooting; it should be a last resort, to be done
only
after all other attempts at troubleshooting by a
qualified person
have failed.

Reformatting and reinstalling prophylactically, as you
suggest
here, is even a worse idea. Why not just install SP2
when it
comes out. *If* you then have insoluble problems (which
is very
unlikely), you can always reinstall afterwards. Why go
through
all the work and potential problems of reinstalling
before you've
ascertained that you need to?

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup


.

If your getting fed up, take a vacation!
come back when you have more tolerance!



-----Original Message-----
Ken,

You posted a polite reply. Is that a requirement as an
MVP?

Not too long ago (under a pseudonym) I noticed there were
many posts whereby the OPs decided to reinstall Windows.
I replied in a pleasant, annoyed manner wondering why so
many people were in such a rush to reinstall Windows or
reformat their HD. I would think either of these
alternatives should be done in *rare* instances.

Boy, did people jump on me for that post. Kind of
like, "remember when you were a novice..." Well I may
have been a novice but I wasn't a moron.

What I surmise is that these OPs have hit on a great
fix. Reformatting and reinstalling is a superb fix. It
fixes everything!!!! Then, after the fact, they
notice....Oh sh!@t, I have to reinstall everything, redo
all my updates and, oh no, for the life of Reilly, all my
tweaks are gone.

Then they come groveling back....Hey Mr. MVP, I have a
problem. Don't you just want to say, just once, "Gee, I
feel real bad for ya, I do.....idiot."

I'm just getting less tolerant than I used to be and I
never had much of it to start with. Stupidity just rubs
me the wrong way.

Just Being,

Mr. Reality
-----Original Message-----
In ,
History Fan typed:

Is it likely that Microsoft will give the public
advance
notice
as to exactly when XP SP2 will be released? Perhaps a
day or
two in
advance?


I don't know how much advance notice there will be, but
yes, it's
very likely there will be some.


I thought it might be a good idea to format my
computer's
hard drive and reinstall XP SP1 shortly beforehand,
just so
everything is fresh and clean before the massive
upgrade of
SP2.


Personally I think it's a terrible idea. It's rarely, if
ever, a
good idea to reformat and reinstall Windows. With a
modicum of
care, it should never be necessary to reinstall Windows
(XP or
any other version). I've run Windows 3.0, 3.1, WFWG
3.11, Windows
95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP, each for
the period
of time before the next version came out, and each on two
machines here. I never reinstalled any of them, and I
have never
had anything more than an occasional minor problem.

It's my belief that this mistaken notion stems from the
technical
support people at many of the larger OEMs. Their
solution to
almost any problem they don't quickly know the answer to
is
"reformat and reinstall." That's the perfect solution
for them.
It gets you off the phone quickly, it almost always
works, and it
doesn't require them to do any real troubleshooting (a
skill that
most of them obviously don't possess in any great
degree).

But it leaves you with all the work and all the
problems. You
have to restore all your data backups, you have to
reinstall all
your programs, you have to reinstall all the Windows and
application updates,you have to locate and install all
the needed
drivers for your system, you have to recustomize Windows
and all
your apps to work the way you're comfortable with.

Besides all those things being time-consuming and
troublesome,
you may have trouble with some of them: can you find all
your
application CDs? Can you find all the needed
installation codes?
Do you have data backups to restore? Do you even
remember all the
customizations and tweaks you may have installed to make
everything work the way you like?

Occasionally there are problems that are so difficult to
solve
that Windows should be reinstalled cleanly. But they are
few and
far between; reinstallation should not be a substitute
for
troubleshooting; it should be a last resort, to be done
only
after all other attempts at troubleshooting by a
qualified person
have failed.

Reformatting and reinstalling prophylactically, as you
suggest
here, is even a worse idea. Why not just install SP2
when it
comes out. *If* you then have insoluble problems (which
is very
unlikely), you can always reinstall afterwards. Why go
through
all the work and potential problems of reinstalling
before you've
ascertained that you need to?

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup


.

.

Why would you want to do that, there isn't a need. Do you already have
SP2-RC1 installed?

--
All the Best,
Kelly

Microsoft-MVP Windows® XP
2004 Windows MVP "Winny" Award

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

Taskbar Repair Tool Plus!
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm


"History Fan" wrote in message
...
Is it likely that Microsoft will give the public advance notice as to
exactly when XP SP2 will be released? Perhaps a day or two in advance? I
thought it might be a good idea to format my computer's hard drive and
reinstall XP SP1 shortly beforehand, just so everything is fresh and clean
before the massive upgrade of SP2.

Mr. Reality wrote:
Ken,

You posted a polite reply. Is that a requirement as an
MVP?

Nope. Bruce can be quite brusque, when the situation dictates. As can Kelly
at times.


Not too long ago (under a pseudonym) I noticed there were
many posts whereby the OPs decided to reinstall Windows.
I replied in a pleasant, annoyed manner wondering why so
many people were in such a rush to reinstall Windows or
reformat their HD. I would think either of these
alternatives should be done in *rare* instances.

Depends on the problem. I'm with Ken on this one - reformatting "just
because" is never to be recommended as it puts unnecessary stress on the
drive. Obviously, if all other methods have been exhausted then, obviously,
reinstall. But I've yet to encounter too many problems that have dictated
that. I've only reinstalled XP twice - once after a power outage fried the
PSU, motherboard, CPU and hard drive and again when the hard drive in this
system went belly-up. I've never reinstalled any other OS. I have a box
here that's been running 98 for, well, since it was released and it's never
needed reinstalling.


Boy, did people jump on me for that post. Kind of
like, "remember when you were a novice..." Well I may
have been a novice but I wasn't a moron.

Who "jumped on you"? I can't see it would have been an MVP as most of them,
although not automatons, are of like mind.


What I surmise is that these OPs have hit on a great
fix. Reformatting and reinstalling is a superb fix. It
fixes everything!!!! Then, after the fact, they
notice....Oh sh!@t, I have to reinstall everything, redo
all my updates and, oh no, for the life of Reilly, all my
tweaks are gone.

They only do so because their OEM has told them to. As Ken says, the
knowledge of most OEM TS staff could be written on the back of a postage
stamp, with room enough to spare for the complete works of Shakespeare.

Then they come groveling back....Hey Mr. MVP, I have a
problem. Don't you just want to say, just once, "Gee, I
feel real bad for ya, I do.....idiot."

I'm just getting less tolerant than I used to be and I
never had much of it to start with. Stupidity just rubs
me the wrong way.

I actually don't understand this post - you start off disagreeing with Ken,
but you end up agreeing with him?

I don't tolerate stupidity either. People are just too damned lazy. It
appears to be too much to ask of anyone to use Google before posting! Why
wipe your own arse when you can post here and a MVP will oblige?!

Just Being,

Mr. Reality
-----Original Message-----
In ,
History Fan typed:

Is it likely that Microsoft will give the public advance notice
as to exactly when XP SP2 will be released? Perhaps a day or two in
advance?


I don't know how much advance notice there will be, but yes, it's
very likely there will be some.


I thought it might be a good idea to format my computer's
hard drive and reinstall XP SP1 shortly beforehand, just so
everything is fresh and clean before the massive
upgrade of
SP2.


Personally I think it's a terrible idea. It's rarely, if ever, a
good idea to reformat and reinstall Windows. With a modicum of
care, it should never be necessary to reinstall Windows (XP or
any other version). I've run Windows 3.0, 3.1, WFWG 3.11, Windows
95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP, each for the period
of time before the next version came out, and each on two
machines here. I never reinstalled any of them, and I have never
had anything more than an occasional minor problem.

It's my belief that this mistaken notion stems from the technical
support people at many of the larger OEMs. Their solution to
almost any problem they don't quickly know the answer to is
"reformat and reinstall." That's the perfect solution for them.
It gets you off the phone quickly, it almost always works, and it
doesn't require them to do any real troubleshooting (a skill that
most of them obviously don't possess in any great degree).

But it leaves you with all the work and all the problems. You
have to restore all your data backups, you have to reinstall all
your programs, you have to reinstall all the Windows and
application updates,you have to locate and install all the needed
drivers for your system, you have to recustomize Windows and all
your apps to work the way you're comfortable with.

Besides all those things being time-consuming and troublesome,
you may have trouble with some of them: can you find all your
application CDs? Can you find all the needed installation codes?
Do you have data backups to restore? Do you even remember all the
customizations and tweaks you may have installed to make
everything work the way you like?

Occasionally there are problems that are so difficult to solve
that Windows should be reinstalled cleanly. But they are few and
far between; reinstallation should not be a substitute for
troubleshooting; it should be a last resort, to be done only
after all other attempts at troubleshooting by a qualified person
have failed.

Reformatting and reinstalling prophylactically, as you suggest
here, is even a worse idea. Why not just install SP2 when it
comes out. *If* you then have insoluble problems (which is very
unlikely), you can always reinstall afterwards. Why go through
all the work and potential problems of reinstalling before you've
ascertained that you need to?

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup


.

Mr. Reality wrote:

You posted a polite reply. Is that a requirement as an
MVP?

People who get to be MVPs need a lot of patience. .

Not too long ago (under a pseudonym) I noticed there were
many posts whereby the OPs decided to reinstall Windows.
I replied in a pleasant, annoyed manner wondering why so
many people were in such a rush to reinstall Windows or
reformat their HD. I would think either of these
alternatives should be done in *rare* instances.

Boy, did people jump on me for that post. Kind of
like, "remember when you were a novice..." Well I may
have been a novice but I wasn't a moron.

There are some who have fixed ideas about *their* panaceas, and demand
that every problem should be solved that way. Reformatting was
fashionable at the time of Win95, though I thought it over done even
then. It has become less and less needed since. The last time I
reformatted this system (apart form setting up separate test partitions)
was for the upgrade from 98 to ME.


--
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
Bournemouth, U.K. (remove the D8 bit)

History Fan wrote:

Is it likely that Microsoft will give the public advance notice as to
exactly when XP SP2 will be released? Perhaps a day or two in advance? I
thought it might be a good idea to format my computer's hard drive and
reinstall XP SP1 shortly beforehand, just so everything is fresh and clean
before the massive upgrade of SP2.

Unless you have installed a Beta evaluation of SP2 there is no need at
all to do that. The SP2 install will check on all the system components
you have on the machine and bring all the ones that have changed since
the original XP (and that is a lot) up to date


--
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
Bournemouth, U.K. (remove the D8 bit)

In ,
Mr. Reality typed:

Ken,

You posted a polite reply. Is that a requirement as an
MVP?


I can't speak for anyone else, but whether I'm posting here as an
MVP or in a non-MS newsgroup, not as an MVP, I always try to be
as polite as possible.

Like everyone else, I have moods, good days and bad days, etc.,
and I can't guarantee that I always do an equally-good job of
being polite. And I'm seldom polite to people who attack, flame,
troll, etc.


Not too long ago (under a pseudonym) I noticed there were
many posts whereby the OPs decided to reinstall Windows.
I replied in a pleasant, annoyed manner wondering why so
many people were in such a rush to reinstall Windows or
reformat their HD. I would think either of these
alternatives should be done in *rare* instances.

Boy, did people jump on me for that post. Kind of
like, "remember when you were a novice..." Well I may
have been a novice but I wasn't a moron.

What I surmise is that these OPs have hit on a great
fix. Reformatting and reinstalling is a superb fix. It
fixes everything!!!! Then, after the fact, they
notice....Oh sh!@t, I have to reinstall everything, redo
all my updates and, oh no, for the life of Reilly, all my
tweaks are gone.

Then they come groveling back....Hey Mr. MVP, I have a
problem. Don't you just want to say, just once, "Gee, I
feel real bad for ya, I do.....idiot."

I'm just getting less tolerant than I used to be and I
never had much of it to start with. Stupidity just rubs
me the wrong way.


I think that stupidity is seldom the issue. Lack of knowledge is
the main culprit. My wife is not stupid, but she can barely spell
"computer." She manages to use one, but she requires frequent
help from me. And at the root of her lack of knowledge is simply
lack of interest.

Whether or not someone is an MVP, if he wants to provide help in
these newsgroups, he needs a healthy dose of tolerance--again,
not so much tolerance for stupidity, but tolerance for lack of
knowledge.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup




-----Original Message-----
In ,
History Fan typed:

Is it likely that Microsoft will give the public advance
notice
as to exactly when XP SP2 will be released? Perhaps a day or
two in
advance?


I don't know how much advance notice there will be, but yes,
it's
very likely there will be some.


I thought it might be a good idea to format my computer's
hard drive and reinstall XP SP1 shortly beforehand, just so
everything is fresh and clean before the massive
upgrade of
SP2.


Personally I think it's a terrible idea. It's rarely, if ever,
a
good idea to reformat and reinstall Windows. With a modicum of
care, it should never be necessary to reinstall Windows (XP or
any other version). I've run Windows 3.0, 3.1, WFWG 3.11,
Windows
95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP, each for the
period
of time before the next version came out, and each on two
machines here. I never reinstalled any of them, and I have
never
had anything more than an occasional minor problem.

It's my belief that this mistaken notion stems from the
technical
support people at many of the larger OEMs. Their solution to
almost any problem they don't quickly know the answer to is
"reformat and reinstall." That's the perfect solution for them.
It gets you off the phone quickly, it almost always works, and
it
doesn't require them to do any real troubleshooting (a skill
that
most of them obviously don't possess in any great degree).

But it leaves you with all the work and all the problems. You
have to restore all your data backups, you have to reinstall
all
your programs, you have to reinstall all the Windows and
application updates,you have to locate and install all the
needed
drivers for your system, you have to recustomize Windows and
all
your apps to work the way you're comfortable with.

Besides all those things being time-consuming and troublesome,
you may have trouble with some of them: can you find all your
application CDs? Can you find all the needed installation
codes?
Do you have data backups to restore? Do you even remember all
the
customizations and tweaks you may have installed to make
everything work the way you like?

Occasionally there are problems that are so difficult to solve
that Windows should be reinstalled cleanly. But they are few
and
far between; reinstallation should not be a substitute for
troubleshooting; it should be a last resort, to be done only
after all other attempts at troubleshooting by a qualified
person
have failed.

Reformatting and reinstalling prophylactically, as you suggest
here, is even a worse idea. Why not just install SP2 when it
comes out. *If* you then have insoluble problems (which is very
unlikely), you can always reinstall afterwards. Why go through
all the work and potential problems of reinstalling before
you've
ascertained that you need to?

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup


.