FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Small Businesses Urged to Postpone
Microsoft XP Security ‘Fix’
History indicates patch will cause PC problems
NAPERVILLE – The anticipated Windows XP security fix from Microsoft will “almost certainly create as many PC problems as it solves – especially at mid-size and smaller businesses” that lack in-house technical expertise, warns computer consultant Steve Yates, principal of Naperville-based ITS (Integrated Technical Solutions, Inc.).
Yates, in fact, is telling ITS clients to wait to download the Microsoft update, called Service Pack 2 – or SP2 in industry jargon. “If we wait 30 to 60 days or more to download SP2, we’ll know what new operating problems this ‘fix’ has caused,” Yates says.
Stalling the patch’s installation may be difficult, however: Many PCs are configured to automatically download security patches through Microsoft’s update service. However, this feature can be disabled.
The security patch is scheduled for release [Note: Microsoft has delayed the Automatic Update version of SP2 until at least August 25].
The SP2 patch, which some analysts believe is closer to being a new operating system than a simple upgrade, will make changes to existing Windows XP software in four key areas: Both browser and e-mail security; memory protection; and network protection.
Although Yates agrees that “Microsoft’s huge security holes need filling,” he is concerned about the patch for two primary reasons:
1) The security patch will automatically turn on the “firewall” that is built into Windows XP software. “Microsoft’s intent to protect PCs from Internet attacks is laudable, but the firewall doesn’t distinguish between friendly and unfriendly communications,” Yates explains. “It will block everyday communications between networked PCs in the same office just as it will block unwanted communication from a PC halfway across the world.”
2) History indicates that SP2 will disrupt many existing PC activities.
Previous Microsoft updates sometimes have had a “debilitating effect” on business PCs, slowing them down or disrupting tasks, Yates says. “It certainly doesn’t happen with every computer, but when clients tell us their PCs begin to freeze up or drop off the Internet, or that some programs suddenly run very slowly, the culprit often is a Microsoft update.”
Yates suggests that PC users who have retained a “yes or no” decision on Microsoft updates request a Service Pack 2 CD rather than download the massive patch file separately to each computer from Microsoft’s Windows Update web site. A previous major Microsoft upgrade, Service Pack 1, issued in 2002, disabled many computers when users tried to download the patch from Microsoft. The disruptions didn’t occur when the service pack was loaded from a CD, however.
Because Microsoft is concentrating more on security than compatibility with SP2, Yates expects “a lot” of PC problem calls once the patch is released.
Founded in 1990, ITS provides network design, installation and support; computer hardware and software; and information technology planning and budget assistance to more than 200 mid-size and smaller businesses throughout Chicagoland. |
