Top 10 security improvements brought by WinXPSP2

Source: http://www.enet.com.cn

Change 1: Firewall enabled by default

During SP2 installation, the network connection firewall is enabled by default to protect your computer.

Change 2: Windows XP Messenger is disabled by default

SP2 disables this feature mainly because most companies do not want to enable Messenger. If you want to start Messenger, You need to enable this function in the Group Policy.

Change 3: The firewall starts to protect the computer when the system is started.

When the operating system is loaded, the firewall begins to protect the computer from Trojans and other virus attacks.

Change 4: add several hundred GPO (Group Policy object) settings

These group policy settings include firewall, instant messaging, and general security settings. You can find more settings through the link below.

GPO settings

Change 5: Messenger can prevent unsafe file transfers

If you enable MESSENGER, it can help you prevent unsafe file transfers: The file sender must be on your contact list, in addition, files must meet certain restrictions-this is mainly for file extensions.

Change 6: increase memory Protection

The new memory protection technology is named DEP, which prevents code from running on an invalid memory address.

Change 7: Control of Outlook Express E-Mail

New Outlook Express will present all received emails in plain text format, which can prevent some emails from spreading viruses using HTML and installing trojans on your computer.

Change 8: IE browser plug-in management

New features allow you to easily uninstall unused IE browser plug-ins.

Change 9: IE Browser Download prompt

Microsoft enabled the new download prompt box, allowing users to clearly see what they really want to download. In this way, malicious software can be downloaded and installed without being careful. These new prompts will be displayed in a new Information bar.

Change 10: Windows upgrade service support

The new WINDOWS Update service not only provides security-related features, but also upgrades the driver of the device and other applications.