Windows XP SP2: A No-Brainer Upgrade? Better Browsing and E-mail Security Joseph Moran
Better Browsing and E-mail Security
The new features in SP2 can be broadly grouped into three categories, the most obvious of which are myriad enhancements to Internet Explorer and Outlook Express.
For example, Internet Explorer now displays an inline Information Bar located just under the web address field. It appears only when necessary, displaying site-related security information and warnings that the user can then act upon. It does a good job of being noticeable without the obtrusiveness of a permanent standalone dialog box.
SP2 also adds a pop-up blocker to IE, a feature that unquestionably should be on every computer nowadays. In stifling those annoying spawned-from-hell windows, it works at least as well as the pop-up blocker included with Google toolbar. The pop-up blocker also lets you pre-define a list of sites where pop-ups will be allowed. The Information Bar also states when a pop-up has been blocked, and gives you the option to easily display the pop-up or modify the pop-up settings for that site.
It's well known that IE add-on modules, which are often downloaded and installed without the user's conscious knowledge, can be a source of considerable consternation and reliability problems. Locating and removing (or at least deactivating) them can be extremely difficult, and at the very least usually requires significant effort. XP SP2 makes the job considerably easier via the Manage Add-ons feature. This is because it displays all of the add-ons currently loaded into IE (you'd be surprised how many there typically are) and affords you the ability to disable any or all add-ons that may be causing problems.
Everyone that's downloaded a plug-in from a web site is familiar with the dialog that asks the user whether or not they'd like to trust content from that publisher in the future. What was missing up until now was the ability to specify that the browser NEVER download content from a particular publisher. SP2 adds this capability, ensuring that you will never be asked to download software from the same dubious publisher twice. This comes in handy, especially when you accidentally stumble into a ill-minded web site (perhaps due to a typo) and are prompted to download the same piece of malicious junk that's been hoisted upon you dozens of times before.
Finally, IE is more intelligent in how it deals with file downloads. It will notify you if a site automatically attempts to download a file without your knowledge. It also checks to make sure that any file you might try to download is the type of file it advertises itself to be. This makes it less likely that an inattentive user will be compelled to download and run an executable file thinking that it's a JPEG, for example. If a file download is of a potentially harmful variety, IE will flag it and give you the option to block it.
Outlook Express has also been enhanced, most notably in its new option to not automatically download external content embedded in e-mails. This helps protect you against the ubiquitous spammer technique of sending e-mails with graphics (sometimes even invisible graphics) that must be accessed from a web site before they can be displayed. When you open the e-mail, the web server records that you downloaded the graphics, thus verifying your identity (or at least your existence) to a spammer and ensuring that the flow of spam to your inbox will continue unabated.
Of course, there are also plenty of legitimate e-mails that use externally loading graphics, so you can click right above the message to download the graphics if you determine an e-mail is kosher.
