Countdown to XP SP2: More than a Firewall

In my most recent Web Exclusive VIP articles ("Countdown to XP SP2: Forced Protection," April 2004, InstantDoc ID 42496; "Countdown to XP SP2: Dealing with ICF," April 2004, InstantDoc ID 42497; and "Countdown to XP SP2: Planning Ahead," May 2004, InstantDoc ID 42552), I discuss some of the effects that the upcoming Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)—specifically, its Windows Firewall component—will have on your network. But there’s a lot more to SP2 than Windows Firewall. Let's take a moment to review some of the other highlights.

Many changes occur in Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE). The first of these changes—a popup blocker—will be welcomed by many. I’ve used the Google toolbar’s free popup killer, but having a built-in blocker on all my XP boxes will be convenient. (Who knows, perhaps when all the major browsers have popup killers, the annoying things will go away.) You enable the popup blocker from IE's Tools menu. Whenever you visit a Web site that uses popup, a new Information bar (or Notification bar—both labels appear in the SP2 beta version that I ran) appears as a pale yellow rectangle just below the Address Bar. IE uses the Information bar to inform you about a bunch of new-to-SP2 items, of which pop-ups are just one (the other items include heads-up messages about how IE’s blocked shady activity from some Web server). The Information bar that appears after IE blocks a pop-up informs you that a pop-up was blocked; clicking the bar gives you options to let the popup appear, create a rule allowing all pop-ups from the site, or bring up the pop-up blocker's Options dialog box. I find this approach a bit more useful than Google's, which requires me to press the Ctrl key and refresh the page to view an individual pop-up. SP2’s IE also provides an IE status bar icon that lets you know the pop-up blocker is active. . . .