SP2 installing its self - prob posted already -.-

[pulsechild]

Hi, this is my first post and I'll probably come off on the wrong foot. I'm sure this has been posted before...

Recently, I went to restart my computer and it popped up with a different menu for my options for shutting down (drop down combo box Vs. buttons). I knew something was wrong at that point. CTRL-ALT-DEL gives me a popup that closes explorer and asks me what  I want to do. I get all sorts of BS popups about using Windows Firewall. I recconized these as parts of SP2 because its on all of the computers in my schools CISCO lab.

I did NOT want SP2! I did everything I could to make it harder for it to be installed. I disables BITS, I stopped using IE, I didn't update anything after SP2 came out.

I'm sure MS pulled some jackass stunt and changed the EULA on everyone so they could legally install it.

My point is, that this is bullshit. I'm afraid to log back into XP and have been enjoying the near care-free life of FC3. I'm without my games but its worth not feeling like I've been anally violated by a piece of software. Is MS really so powerful that they can get away with this??

Can I just use System Restore to remove it and roll back a few days? Would that fix it or do I need to just deal with it?

:fu: Fuck You Bill!

[Calum]

no.

you can't.

the answer, without intending personal insult is: "tough shit".

have a look through the licences you agreed to with that microsoft software you are using:
http://www.polytheism.org.uk/openopen/files/licences/

note that by using microsoft windows, you have agreed that microsoft have access to your data, and they also have total control over your installed software. You agreed to this, now i think you need to realise that you've not really got anything to complain about.

There are many operating systems out there that do not use this ridiculous stranglehold on their users, i see you're familiar with them since you're using Fedora. i use slackware and xandros. most of the software in these systems is released under the GPL (which can also be found at that link i mention above) or similar licences, none of which make any unreasonable on your computer or the software installed on it (except realplayer, which comes with xandros, but this is easily sorted out, it's not even a required component, but i am digressing)

so there you go, you choose to use windows, so you must be prepared for the fallout of the agreements you have agreed to by using it.

Ah, and welcome to the board, i don't think you're on the wrong foot at all, i hope you enjoy it here

[skyman8081]

That doesn't sound like SP2, it sounds like the XP-ness was removed and/or rolled back to win-2k style.

You probably did that in your measures to keep SP2 off.

Most likely, you didn't disable automatic updates or it installed with an app that might have needed it.  SP2 merely made the firwall more prominent, it has always been there actually.

go to the system properties and check there, that will tell you what SP is installed.

[pulsechild]

No, trust me AU was the first thing I disabled. I suppose I shouldn't be terribly suprised, though. I just wish someone could stand up to MS (including our government because they didn't do shit last time. Fines aren't enough).

I'm going to reformat soon anyways. I'll go back to SP1 with no extra updates. Im pretty sure that SP2 can't be installed without some of the post-SP1 release patchs.

I'm well aware of what MS can and cannot do with my computer. It's pretty sick when you think about it.

I only use XP because of gaming. If it wern't for that, I'd never look back, but thanks to lobbyists fighting game companies to port for other OS's, It might not be long. Steam games run so much better on Linux then on Windows.

If people could sit down and make linux behave more like Win (without all of the errors ) then I believe more people would switch. This "ease-of-use" has corrupted us. Even I have been caught saying "Damn it, this is so much easier to do in Windows!" and giving up.

I might switch for good this time...

[pulsechild]

Oh and yeah, it says I still have SP1

[skyman8081]

Even if it had "stealth updated" behind your back,  SP2 is SP2, and would have updated that string of text.  do you have a wifi card?  SP2 just added a "security center" to control everything from one place.  Look for that.

ps. Steam = Spyware

[pulsechild]

Well... I don't have security center, but I do have "CSNW" in my Control Panel all of a sudden. I also read somewhere that it will install itself bits and pieces until its completely finished and then ask if you want to install it or not. Who knows.

Steam is spyware? News to me, but then again I shouldn't be suprised. I really don't care. Windows is spyware too, but we all still use it. :p Reminds me of LimeWire "FREE OF SPYWARE" yet that fucking software is riddled with it. Besides, I can't play HL2 without it. Or CS:S.

PS - No one tell me there are hacks and ways around Steam. I know this. I just usually choose not to priate software. I just get my OS's and my music free. :cool:

[MrX]

steam is the (i think the publisher) of Valve's HL2 . and it is the program that gets updates for HL2. i think you also can download HL2 full version with that steam program. try going to the steam site and try to find how to disable it.

better yet- use zonealarm and deny the program internet rights- problem solved!

Mr X :beos:  :beos:  :beos:  :beos:

[MrX]

oh yeah- and 'oh windows is so easy to use everything is soo hard'
all i am hearing is i like to rationlise things (aka just making a stupid excuse, therefore reducing your chances of success)

Mr X

[skyman8081]

Well... I don't have security center, but I do have "CSNW" in my Control Panel all of a sudden. I also read somewhere that it will install itself bits and pieces until its completely finished and then ask if you want to install it or not. Who knows.

Steam is spyware? News to me, but then again I shouldn't be suprised. I really don't care. Windows is spyware too, but we all still use it. :p Reminds me of LimeWire "FREE OF SPYWARE" yet that fucking software is riddled with it. Besides, I can't play HL2 without it. Or CS:S.

PS - No one tell me there are hacks and ways around Steam. I know this. I just usually choose not to priate software. I just get my OS's and my music free. :cool:

You don't have SP2, CSNW is use to connect to NetWare Servers from Windows.

[Calum]

oh yeah- and 'oh windows is so easy to use everything is soo hard'
all i am hearing is i like to rationlise things (aka just making a stupid excuse, therefore reducing your chances of success)

Mr X

basically: yes.

windows is no easier to use than MacOSX, or KDE, or GNOME or XFce or Windowmaker et cetera, or even the Linux CLI (which i find 100% easier to use than DOS, or even windows a lot of the time) and the lesson to be learned from this is that people who think windows is easier to use... think so because they are used to using windows.

if a person is familiar with windows, then sure, the learning curve for everything else will be steeper than just using what you know, but once again, if that's something you are not prepared for, then you have to deal with the consequences of your choice, that's life.

[pulsechild]

Well, I never claimed to be one of those people. I know how to use Linux. It isn't hard to use, its just that you have to learn all new commands in text-based mode. You also have to quit thinking Windows just because you can make it look like MSWin.

I will admit that when I first started working with Red Hat, I became frustrated with it. I nearly gave up until my mom bought me a book on RH9 and I actually sat down and read about how to use it.  Linux offers so much more than MSWin does and at a fraction of the cost - if not free. Linux, in my mind and in the minds of most everyone on the forums, is a superior OS than Win on the basis of  nearly everything. Its just that we live in a MS world. Most of us are brought up on Win and it just kinda sticks. We are too babied by them and look whos the bitch now? The average consumer.

Oh yeah, back to SP2.
My stepdad uses my computer to connect to NetWare servers. I didn't know that. Now I understand where that software came from.

This topic is changing, so Im going to move it into the software area and ask my question there.

[Calum]

Well, I never claimed to be one of those people.

good on you then, but your comments are similar to a lot of people who are those people!

I know how to use Linux. It isn't hard to use, its just that you have to learn all new commands in text-based mode. You also have to quit thinking Windows just because you can make it look like MSWin.

you do if you only know how to use ms windows, and if you expect everything else to be exactly the same (which would be silly, if it were exactly the same, it wouldn't be something else!). To me this is not a problem, learning things is a big part of what makes life worth living. it seems a lot of people don't agree though, and would rather stick with what they think they know (which seems to be forced upgrades, poorly functioning software they didn't want, and have to either pay for or find a crack for et cetera)

I will admit that when I first started working with Red Hat, I became frustrated with it.

me too, but i never considered giving up its use, the licencing implications of windows are just too prohibitive to go back to sucking its teat again, i still have windows installed on my home machines (as well as linux) but they almost never get used. to me, i prefer to use linux, it's now easier for me to use, as i can do a lot more in it than i can in windows, and i consider it infinitely more stable and secure. the windows systems on the two computers i have do not have internet access for example, they exist only for the one or two closed source programs that have win32 only versions out there

I nearly gave up until my mom bought me a book on RH9 and I actually sat down and read about how to use it.  Linux offers so much more than MSWin does and at a fraction of the cost - if not free. Linux, in my mind and in the minds of most everyone on the forums, is a superior OS than Win on the basis of  nearly everything. Its just that we live in a MS world. Most of us are brought up on Win and it just kinda sticks. We are too babied by them and look whos the bitch now? The average consumer.

well said. but it takes two to tango. it just gets my goat when people say "oh woe is me, i have to use windows, i didn't want to but now look, i know how to use it and i can't use anything else, there's no way out for me etc", because i have been in that situation and i know that there's nothing to learning some new things about your computer's operating environment. there are much harder things in life, that take a lot more effort, like keeping out of debt, taking responsibility for your own rubbish and pollution, keeping yourself in work and/or accomodation and so on (depending on circumstances i suppose).

might as well just say i'm not trying to argue here, in case that's how my "tone" comes across...