9 Critical Errors in Installation of XP SP3 RTM Build 5512
Users looking to Service Pack 3 for Windows XP, as Service Pack 2's second coming and the perfect reason to avoid Windows Vista SP1, might need to reconsider their plans.
The reason is rather simple, despite the fact that it has spent over two months more time in development compared to Vista SP1, while containing only a minor, standard evolution in comparison to SP2, XP SP3 has come to the table with a flood of issues, a wide variety of them impacting the deployment process. There are no less than nine officially documented scenarios in which end users will find it unable to install Windows XP SP3, and even more error messages associated with the problems.
1. The XP SP3 RTM Infinite Reboot Loop
Jesper Johansson was among the first to signal this problem after installing XP SP3 on an AMD-based computer, an operation which lead to: "incessant reboots. The computer booted, apologized for not being able to boot properly, asked if I wanted to boot into safe mode, defaulted to normal boot, rebooted, and so on and so on. At this point, I want to clarify that the endless rebooting is not at all related to SP3 per se. The problem is that with some configurations, SP3 causes the computer to crash during boot, and Windows XP, by default, is set up to automatically reboot when it crashes."
This is by no means an isolated case. In fact, end users have been crowding to the support forum for Windows XP SP3 signaling the very same problem, as well as variations from this issue. In response, Microsoft published Knowledge Base article 888372 detailing the issue. Essentially users are presented by a "Stop 0x0000007E" error message, having performed and upgrade to XP SP3 from SP2 on what Microsoft referred to as a non-Intel-processor-based computer.
Critical Security Patch for Windows XP Service Pack 3 Final
Windows XP SP3 was barely out the door, when Microsoft rushed to issue the first critical patch for the service pack. Concomitantly with the general availability of the last service pack for XP, Microsoft dropped the first critical security update designed to patch Internet Explorer 7 running on XP SP3 RTM Build 5512.
IE7-WindowsXP-KB947864-x86-ENU.exe is designed for both XP SP2 and XP SP3, and was initially offered on May 6, 2008, after downloads containing the latest service pack for XP went live via Windows Update and the Download Center.
"This update addresses the vulnerability discussed in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-024," Microsoft informed. "Security issues have been identified that could allow an attacker to compromise a computer running Microsoft Internet Explorer and gain control over it. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer."
TorrentSpy operator ordered to pay $111 million in damages
Serving up links to BitTorrent downloads of copyrighted material doesn't pay. According to the Associated Press, a Los Angeles, California court has found in favor of six major Hollywood movie studios in a case versus pirate website TorrentSpy.com. As part of the judgment, former TorrentSpy.com operator Valence Media will have to pay a hefty $111 million in damages to the plaintiffs—that's $30,000 for each one of 3,700 or so torrents for movies and TV shows to which the site linked.
Valence Media has been embroiled in legal troubles since February 2006, when the Motion Picture Association of America filed its initial copyright infringement lawsuit. The following year, News.com reported that the federal judge overseeing the case had "ruled against the BitTorrent indexing service TorrentSpy.com saying that its hiding and destruction of evidence made a fair trial impossible." TorrentSpy.com went down on March 24, and a notice on the now-empty site reads:
We have decided on our own, not due to any court order or agreement, to bring the Torrentspy.com search engine to an end and thus we permanently closed down worldwide on March 24, 2008. . . . The legal climate in the USA for copyright, privacy of search requests, and links to torrent files in search results is simply too hostile. We spent the last two years, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, defending the rights of our users and ourselves. . . . Ultimately the Court demanded actions that in our view were inconsistent with our privacy policy, traditional court rules, and International law; therefore, we now feel compelled to provide the ultimate method of privacy protection for our users - permanent shutdown.
The AP says Valence Media's lawyers have filed a document in court asking for the judgement to be stayed. The lawyers claim the company is seeking bankruptcy protection in the United Kingdom.
perfect reason to avoid 
muBlinder 3.54 (72907)
wpa_registry (16965)
