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I know this is just a comic,
http://xkcd.com/936/
but the guy who drew it apparently knows what he’s talking about —
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/networking/cartoon-makes-better-password-point-than-many-security-experts/1340
He also clarifies a few things in a reply to many posters, about 1/2 way down this forum,
http://ask.metafilter.com/193052/Oh-Randall-you-do-confound-me-so

st00b!ed00d

You can completely clear everything in the softwaredistribution folder, infact you can kill the whole folder itself if you like (disable windows updates first). That folder holds all the settings and downlaods for windows updates and it can get quite big because all downloaded updates are stored there, even after they are installed…and actually when windows updates is broken, deleting that folder can often fix it. The folder will be re-created when you start the windows update sergvice aagain and download updates. Keep in mind that any settings you had (like hidden updates) will be removed when deleting this folder. If you ONLY want to delete the downloads and keep the settings then clear the download and datastore folder inside softwaredistribution. In most cases, you cant delete the hf_mig folder

Also keep in mind that just because a file has sp2 in it, doesnt neccessarily mean that its made obsolete by sp3…there may not be an sp3 versiopn of that particular file, or the file naming could even be a coincidense.

Thanks Richard — that helps. Your last comment is the reason I posted my question — a lingering suspicion that some of the files might still be in use even though they advertise themselves as SP2-related. I will delete the junk in the distribution folder, at least.

s.

This will depend on whether you downloaded the entire SP-3 separate from the the Windows Update site or not.
Windows Update will detect SP-2 on your machine and offer that which is missing from an SP-3 install.

If you downloaded SP-3 by some other means other than via Windows update site, use Windows Update install instead.
A separate and whole downloaded SP-3 from other than the Windows Update site, is better served for doing a clean install.

I have stayed away from Windows Update in order to avoid the WGA spyware. I did download the entire SP3 installer from Microsoft, burned it to CD, and installed from there.

FYI — One of the XP machines in our office, set up for automatic updates, suddenly could not launch any browser on Friday morning. Neither Firefox nor IE would launch, but put up a crash message instead. I looked at the System Restore points and found mention of the Silverlight update the night before. I uninstalled Silverlight, deleted all registry mentions of it, and ran CCleaner, and finally I could get the browsers to launch again. I’m not an IT pro, so my diagnosis/repair methods may not be orthodox; but that’s what I did, and the problem went away.

thanks for your great columns,
Stuart

I’ve used CoPilot a few times, for both remote support of non-techie PC users and for home control of my office PC. The remote support application is fine, and has the advantage that (as long as the person being helped can reach the Internet) there are no issues caused by firewalls at either end. The user interface to log in is also very well designed and usable.

The remote control of my office PC was cumbersome, though. I was trying to edit a powerpoint file from home while its presenter-to-be collaborated with me over the phone from my desk. The latency was too long to be practical — every text edit was followed by a LONG wait while all the graphics refreshed over the network.

I will have to give Teamviewer a try, after all the accolades on this thread!

If you’re really sending a lot of photos, you (and your distant family) might find it much better to use a photo-sharing Web site like Picasa or Flikr instead. You wouldn’t have to worry about resizing, losing quality, guessing at how many attachments to add, or clobbering your recipients’ inboxes with too much mail.

http://www.flickr.com/
picasaweb.google.com

s.

When you start to use the text tool, are you just clicking where you want to start typing, or are you dragging a text frame first? Do you get the same result from pressing Enter in each case? What version of PShop are you using, on what OS? Is this behaviour new, or has the program always acted this way?

Also note that the Enter key on the number pad acts differently from the Enter key on the alpha pad. The number-pad key accepts your typed input, the same as CTRL + Enter on the alpha pad.

s.