Dan Olsen’s Weblog

Windows XP SP2 is scheduled to be available for download starting August 25th. The Advertiser has an article which talks about some of the new security features which come with the new service pack. Microsoft is also providing a free CD with the service pack for those who don’t want to download the 100MB update. Microsoft encourages those that have the CD to share it with their friends to update their computers.

Once you’ve installed it and rebooted your PC, you’ll find two new icons in the Control Panel.

One is called Windows Security Centre, which provides a one-stop shop for maintaining the currency of Windows XP. It will allow you to control your computer’s firewall (its protective barrier against unwanted intruders), its software update history and even your anti-virsu software.

It will tell you if these programs are current and allow you to update them if they’ve passed their use-by date. SP2 also makes it easier for you to turn on the Automatic Updates feature in Windows, which downloads and installs critical software updates as they become available.

The other new icon is Windows Firewall (formerly called Internet Connection Firewall), which extends protection of your PC when it is booting up and shutting down.

An important change is that Windows Firewall is turned on by default, so that your computer’s protection is always on unless you turn it off.

It also provides more powerful protection with both inbound and outbound scanning capabilities that resemble firewall programs such as ZoneAlarm.

What this means is that the first time a program wants to access the Internet, Windows Firewall will pop up a dialog box to let you configure the firewall to grant access. The benefit for you is that there’s less chance of sneaky software installing itself on your hard drive without your permission.

Windows XP SP2 has a whole bunch of other convenient features that include an improved client program for accessing wireless networks and an update that lets Internet Explorer block those annoying pop-up ads.

The Advertiser :: Lock your Windows
Referenced Fri Aug 6 2004 07:47:24 GMT-0600

UPDATE (8/9/04): If you have Windows autoupdate turned on, you may receive this SP2 as soon as next week! Many computer distributers have decided to wait and watch before installing SP2 and put it through harsher testing because they are viewing it as an OS upgrade.

I read an article today on CNN’s website called “Computer science school breaks with tradition“. The school is called Northface and is located in South Jordan, Utah which is just south of Salt Lake City. The school offers a computer science degree in 28 months and for $60,000. How do they do it? Well, all their courses are focussed on computer science. They have only one liberal arts course and instead of taking up time with general education courses they focus solely on the technical classes.

Northface is backed by IMB Corp., Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp., and Unisys Corp. The goal of the school is to teach students what they need to know and that’s it. Many critics of the school say that the students won’t have the skills to be well rounded thinkers without the extra ciriculum offered at universities. MIT is one of those that says it is important for students to receive a well rounded education to succeed in the world of computers.

I am interested to see how well Northface students do compared to MIT or other well known universities in computer science. From the sound of it, Northface feels they will be competition for such schools.