What's New in Service Pack 2

Windows XP Service Pack 2 has a number of new features and upgrades that may change your computing experience.  See the different sections below for more specific information about what has changed.

Security Center - Service Pack 2 adds a new Control Panel called the Security Center.  The Security Center brings together information about your firewall, Internet settings and your anti-virus software into one place.  Click the link to find out more information from Microsoft.

Windows Firewall - The Windows Firewall, previously called the Internet Connection Firewall, has gone through an overhaul.  The Windows Firewall is now on by default and will block all programs starting out.  You can find more information about the changes from Microsoft by clicking the link.

Internet Explorer Upgrades - Internet Explorer has some security upgrades including a built in pop-up blocker, download monitoring and the ability to search through plug-ins that were installed to Internet Explorer to find spyware and other malicious programs.  The link provided will give more information about these upgrades and some information about Outlook Express as well.

 

Wireless Center

- The built in Wireless networking got an upgrade in Service Pack 2 with a new interface and different options.  However, if you are using wireless networking on the University of Iowa campus, you will need to use the AEGIS client provided by the University of Iowa still.  You can find out more about Wireless networking at the University of Iowa at http://helpdesk.its.uiowa.edu/wireless/.

Microsoft's Service Pack 2 Feature List - This is a list from Microsoft with a more detailed overview of everything that has changed with Service Pack 2 on Windows XP.

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