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Bob Dalton
Guest
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 Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 2:38 pm Post subject: WinXP SP2 developer early experiences |
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I downloaded and installed WinXP SP2 on our WinXP Pro production machines a
couple of days ago and have been running it without much in the way of
problems so far. Here are some early developer experience notes for whatever
they may be worth:
1. With FlashFiler we need to click the "Unblock" button the first time the
server was FlashFiler installed and ran. This seems to be the major
consideration with SP2 in that it "blocks" autonomous access between
client/server applications. Not a big deal so far as you can manually
unblock future access when the dailog pops up to warn the user that an an
application is trying to use network services (ie; TCP/IP). Did not
experience this problem/dialog with MS SQL Server 2000.
2. Did not experience any problems, so far, with Report Builder 7.X, Top
Grid, Scabium Import/Export, TMS Planner components or TurboPower stuff.
3. No problems so far with ADO/MDAC 2.8 which we use for our client
products to communicate with MSSQL Server 2000.
4. The system tooks about 20 extra seconds or so to load more then the
normal without SP2.
5. No problems encountered so far with the operation of Delphi 7 Pro or
compiling.
6. While we haven't tested it yet we expect there to be a problem with one
one of our applications which exports information to the MS Outlook contacts
based on what we have seen so far.
7. DirectX 9.0b seems to be working fine.
At this point it would seem that the biggest area of concern for developers
will be in cases where the developers application attempts to communicate
with another application on the system. If you do not do this then you
probably have not much to be concerned about.
Actually I am finding I like the new block/unblock feature as it turned up
something on one of our systems we were not aware was there, and we usually
monitor very closely such things. This feature, which I think is fairly easy
to live with, gives the user more direct control over what runs and doesn't
on his/her system. If you write spyware then I can see why you might not
like it. Clicking the "Block" button took care of that problem on our system
for future uses. Another neat feature has been the "built in" pop up
blocker. About darn time IMHO..... :-)
Regards;
Bob Dalton
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Eric Grange
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 3:26 pm Post subject: Re: WinXP SP2 developer early experiences |
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| Quote: | At this point it would seem that the biggest area of concern for developers
will be in cases where the developers application attempts to communicate
with another application on the system.
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Actually, it happens whenever an application opens a socket in listening
mode, ie. to receive connections. Outgoing connections and their replies
aren't affected (ie. a "pure client" can connect anywhere and download
anything).
UDP isn't thoroughly affected, however the firewall will block replies
to broadcasts that happen more than 3 sec after a broadcast.
| Quote: | Actually I am finding I like the new block/unblock feature as it turned up
something on one of our systems we were not aware was there, and we usually
monitor very closely such things.
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Aye, just keep in mind the firewall doesn't have a "black list"
as you find in other firewalls, ie. a "blocked" application can
still initiate outgoing connections.
| Quote: | If you write spyware then I can see why you might not like it.
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Only if the spyware opens a port for listening, but spyware that
sends out (your) data, or go fetch commands by themselves won't
be affected, so don't just throw away your "classic" firewall
software just yet 
Dunno why they didn't block it both ways, maybe not to discourage
use of webservices in future applications, but it means the door
is still open and users will falsely believe they are safe and
can block all offending software.
| Quote: | Another neat feature has been the "built in" pop up
blocker. About darn time IMHO..... 
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Yep, Google's was being worked around more and more those days,
should give us a few weeks respite...
Also good is that the new firewall will kick in at boot time,
and not just late after system startup.
Eric
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Eric Grange
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 3:53 pm Post subject: Re: WinXP SP2 developer early experiences |
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| Quote: | Ouch! And this can't be configured?
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Not sure haven't investigated this far and currently I'm
rather rounding up what works and what doesn't (apparently
everything works, with at worst a firewall warnings).
Just got surprised to see our DB, SMTP, POP3 clients, along
with UDP discovery and data exchange components work without
any firewall warning, then random google search yelded this page
http://iamnotageek.com/b/topic/103-XP_SP2_Firewall_warning
which confirmed the suspicion.
Anyway, real issue is that even if you can somehow achieve
blocking with proper tweaking, this proper tweaking will only
happen in corporate networks (for all practical purposes),
ie. where the firewall is least usefull (since corporate
firewalls and proxies already exist), it won't shield the average
Joe's machine from the next generation of spyware that
is sure to happen.
Also if for the settings you theoretically have to use netsh
or the security console, writing directly to the registry
seems to work just fine if you have admin/install rights
(and it's a lot more convenient than netsh, which seems to
execute very slowly here).
Eric
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Ingvar Nilsen
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 4:14 pm Post subject: Re: WinXP SP2 developer early experiences |
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Bob Dalton wrote:
| Quote: | Clicking the "Block" button took care of that problem on our system
for future uses.
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I have this on my W2k and XP Pro - it is called a personal firewall.
Good that it is integrated now.
--
Ingvar Nilsen
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Ingvar Nilsen
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 4:33 pm Post subject: Re: WinXP SP2 developer early experiences |
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Eric Grange wrote:
| Quote: | If you write spyware then I can see why you might not like it.
Only if the spyware opens a port for listening, but spyware that
sends out (your) data, or go fetch commands by themselves won't be
affected, so don't just throw away your "classic" firewall software
just yet
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Ouch! And this can't be configured?
--
Ingvar Nilsen
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Craig Stuntz [TeamB]
Guest
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Ingvar Nilsen
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 5:47 pm Post subject: Re: WinXP SP2 developer early experiences |
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Eric Grange wrote:
Ugh.. Well, I can only imagine the support issues in connection with a
"real" firewall. It is not straight forward for an average PC user to
deal with all messages popping up and all confirmations and permissions
needed in order to have the PC's software work and function like before.
Personally I have never used an anti virus program more than one day
(slowed down my system too much and was an overall nuisance), problem
was solved with a firewall, but then I did not need any support..
It even displays a message when my Delphi 6 wants to connect to Delphi
Direct :-)
--
Ingvar Nilsen
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Ingvar Nilsen
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 6:18 pm Post subject: Re: WinXP SP2 developer early experiences |
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Craig Stuntz [TeamB] wrote:
| Quote: | Ingvar Nilsen wrote:
Ugh.. Well, I can only imagine the support issues in connection
with a "real" firewall.
...and Microsoft would no doubt be flamed for forcing other vendors
out of the market.
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Yes, rightfully or not. But in this case, it is hard to imagine that
they took any consideration, being under even more pressure and
accusations (being flamed) regarding the prevalent security issues.
--
Ingvar Nilsen
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Alexander Tereshchenko
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 6:38 pm Post subject: Re: WinXP SP2 developer early experiences |
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| Quote: | 4. The system tooks about 20 extra seconds or so to load more then the
normal without SP2.
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Strange, very strange! For me it boots about 10 seconds faster then before.
| Quote: | 7. DirectX 9.0b seems to be working fine.
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XP SP2 includes 9.0c, how could you test 9.0b? :-D
------------------------------------------
Alexander Tereshchenko
[email]alex (AT) knives-out (DOT) org[/email]
http://www.knives-out.org/
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Wayne Niddery [TeamB]
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 9:25 pm Post subject: Re: WinXP SP2 developer early experiences |
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Ingvar Nilsen wrote:
| Quote: |
Personally I have never used an anti virus program more than one day
(slowed down my system too much and was an overall nuisance),
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Have you tried AVG from Grisoft? I've been very happy with it and don't see
any noticeable slow down.
--
Wayne Niddery - Logic Fundamentals, Inc. (www.logicfundamentals.com)
RADBooks: http://www.logicfundamentals.com/RADBooks.html
Bandwagons are like streetcars, there'll be another along in a few
minutes.
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Iman L Crawford
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 9:55 pm Post subject: Re: WinXP SP2 developer early experiences |
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Ingvar Nilsen <telcontr (AT) online-not-this-part- (DOT) no> wrote in
news:41224494.2050807 (AT) online-not-this-part- (DOT) no:
| Quote: | Personally I have never used an anti virus program more than one day
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Same here.
--
Iman
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Iman L Crawford
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 9:55 pm Post subject: Re: WinXP SP2 developer early experiences |
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"Wayne Niddery [TeamB]" <wniddery (AT) chaffaci (DOT) on.ca> wrote in
news:412277bc (AT) newsgroups (DOT) borland.com:
| Quote: | Have you tried AVG from Grisoft?
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So far the best one I've used for everyone in the office. I doesn't bring
your machine to a crawl
--
Iman
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Alan Garny
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 10:17 pm Post subject: Re: WinXP SP2 developer early experiences |
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"Ingvar Nilsen" <telcontr (AT) online-not-this-part- (DOT) no> wrote
| Quote: | Wayne Niddery [TeamB] wrote:
Have you tried AVG from Grisoft?
No, thanks for the tip!
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Believe me, it's a good one! I have been using AVG from years and have
never had any problem since then!
| Quote: | I've been very happy with it and
Hm.. caught any viruses?
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It catches some on a very regular basis. Mainly ones attached to e-mails.
| Quote: | don't see any noticeable slow down.
Sounds great, OTH might be a sign of not working as hard as it
should
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See above... :)
| Quote: | Frankly - and I know lots of people would frown on this - I don't see
the need at the moment. With a very good firewall (Sygate) and a non-MS
mail client, I feel safe.
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Yes, my brother in law used to think the same... until he got a virus a few
weeks ago... I believe he learned his lesson that day, after having lost
lots of personal files...
Alan.
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Eric Schreiber
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 10:20 pm Post subject: Re: WinXP SP2 developer early experiences |
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Ingvar Nilsen wrote:
| Quote: | Have you tried AVG from Grisoft?
No, thanks for the tip!
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I'll second or third or whatever AVG. Excellent program, and not
invasive like many of the big competitors.
| Quote: | I've been very happy with it and
Hm.. caught any viruses?
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I don't run AVG resident, because my natural paranoia protects me
pretty well from viruses. I do run it weekly, plus I check any new
downloads before executing them. I've never had a virus infection.
Lately I've done a lot of computer clean-ups for friends, family and
neighbors. I've used AVG in all cases, and it's found huge amounts of
infected files (worst so far, 16 different trojans infecting over 150
different files).
| Quote: | Frankly - and I know lots of people would frown on this - I don't see
the need at the moment. With a very good firewall (Sygate) and a
non-MS mail client, I feel safe.
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User awareness remains, in my opinion, the most effective antivirus
protection available.
--
Eric Schreiber
Kobayashi Software
www.kobayashi.com
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Ingvar Nilsen
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 10:42 pm Post subject: Re: WinXP SP2 developer early experiences |
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Wayne Niddery [TeamB] wrote:
| Quote: | Have you tried AVG from Grisoft?
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No, thanks for the tip!
| Quote: | I've been very happy with it and
Hm.. caught any viruses? |
| Quote: | don't see any noticeable slow down.
Sounds great, OTH might be a sign of not working as hard as it |
should :-)
Frankly - and I know lots of people would frown on this - I don't see
the need at the moment. With a very good firewall (Sygate) and a non-MS
mail client, I feel safe.
--
Ingvar Nilsen
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