I took a few days off from Momsview to do some maintenance on my computer. I have Windows XP and I had been having a terrible time with my computer "hiccupping" on me in the middle of something. I mean that Windows would start to shut down on me and log me out of my user account. My desktop icons and my task bar would disappear and then come back, but some of my system tray icons (in the bottom right) would be gone. Plus, my internet browser (MSN dialup) was taking anywhere between 3 to 10 minutes sometimes to load a web page!

I think that what happened was that Windows Update had downloaded and installed updates automatically (which is what I had it set to do), but the updates were designed to work with Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, which I hadn't installed yet.

SO- I am here to remind XP users that it is very important that you install Service Pack 2 for Windows XP if you haven't already. It is an upgrade that contains important patches and security upgrades so that we can be safer on the internet. Hackers are always busy, you know, trying to find vulnerabilities in Windows and exploit them. Actually, I think Microsoft has a team of "hackers" whose job it is to find the weak spots in Windows first before the real hackers do. When they find a weakness, they issue a "patch" for it, so that you can remain secure online.

For more info, go to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/default.mspx

By Tink on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 09:50 pm:

My computer did this about a month ago and I just happened to load SP2 since I had some free time. I noticed a significant change in how my computer was running. I'm so computer illiterate that I hated how my computer was acting but I didn't have any idea how to fix it. Thanks for the reminder for others.

By Dawnk777 on Saturday, October 30, 2004 - 11:55 pm:

We installed Service Pack 2 on all our computers a while back already. We haven't had any problems.

By Amy~moderator on Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 04:34 pm:

Make sure that before you install Service Pack 2, you go to your computer manufacturer's website (dell, compaq, hp, etc) and download driver updates FIRST! If you do not, you may have to do a system restore on your computer before it will work again.