Windows XP SP2 is here... what you need to do

[Apocalypse]

Asher: I got this from my school's IT department? Should I refrain?

Microsoft has released Windows XP Service Pack 2 and will include the update in their “Critical Updates” list on Monday August 16.



Faculty, staff, and cadets are asked to refrain from downloading and upgrading their computers with service pack 2 until the I.T. Department has completed evaluation of the service pack.



The Information Technology Department is currently evaluating Service Pack 2 in a “test” computer environment. Since a service pack is considered a major Operating system upgrade the potential for adverse effects is possible.



Service Pack 2 is a composite of security updates, enhancements, and some changes to the basic operating system.

The overall purpose of the service pack is to increase security features built into the operating system, to help protect against worms and other malicious attacks. Several new technologies are included with the service pack to allow better protection against network-based attacks.



Thank you for your cooperation.

[Natalinasmpf]

IIRC, it's a thunking layer, not an emulator.

Even Cygwin says it uses posix-layer emulation.

Basically, the XP kernel will never detect the multiple programs running inside Cygwin.

[Urban Ranger]

POSIX layer? What's a POSIX layer?

[alva]

BTW, if your DivX ( both programs and codecs) suddenly stops working or even crashing, it's because of SP2. well not really because of it, it's because SP2 uses Data Execution Prevention (DEP) and many of these codecs and programs work precisely within this realm.

[Urban Ranger]

Oooo, so MS is sneaking DRM in. Bastards.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Oooo, so MS is sneaking DRM in. Bastards.

You're truly a teasure.

It has nothing to do with DRM, why don't you either think or do some research first.

It doesn't even logically make sense: there's nothing inherently illegal about DivX that warrants DRM.

[Asher]

FWIW, DivX and XViD work perfectly fine on my WinXP SP2 systems, even on my Athlon 64 system that has full-out hardware DEP (NX support).

Further, by default, DEP only affects Windows System components, as per this screenshot:

[Apocalypse]

Asher....respond to my previous post

please cutie

[Asher]

If your sysadmins recommend against it, I'd not do it yet.

[Apocalypse]

But my school's IT department sucks and the shut down P2P...our theory is that they just want to download more porn.

[Asher]

Go for it then.

[Atahualpa]

[Natalinasmpf]

POSIX layer? What's a POSIX layer?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posix

Apocalypse, just use HTTP redirect...

Further, by default, DEP only affects Windows System components, as per this screenshot:

Pardon my ignorance, but wouldn't that mean it would prevent the critical components from running?

(Anyway, does it lookout for the program name/PID/etc. being executed, or the actual code patterns itself?)

[Asher]

Originally posted by Natalinasmpf
Pardon my ignorance, but wouldn't that mean it would prevent the critical components from running?

(Anyway, does it lookout for the program name/PID/etc. being executed, or the actual code patterns itself?)

DEP isn't something that stops the program from running, it just better protects memory. I'm not sure how they emulate a version of it without an Athlon 64 right now.

What it does for Athlon 64 is use the new "NX" instruction on the CPU to flag data sections of the program "No eXecute", which means it's forced to be read-only by the hardware, even in the case of a buffer overflow (how most vulnerabilities work). Theoretically it will eliminate a HUGE percentage of possible buffer overflow vulnerabilities, we'll see how well it'll actually work.

[Atahualpa]

AFAIK the NX technology is not really new to computers. I heard Sun's Ultrasparc had it already or maybe Alpha.