Top 10 reasons to install Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)

1. Help protect your PC from harmful attachments.
By alerting you to potentially unsafe attachments, Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) helps guard your computer from viruses that can spread through Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, and Windows Messenger.

2. Improve your privacy when you're on the Web.
SP2 helps protect your private information by applying the security settings that guard your PC to the files and content downloaded using Internet Explorer.

3. Avoid potentially unsafe downloads.
Internet Explorer download monitoring and the Internet Explorer Information Bar warn you about potentially harmful downloads and give you the option to block files that could be malicious.

4. Reduce annoying pop-ups.
Internet Explorer Pop-Up Blocker makes browsing the Internet more enjoyable by helping you reduce the unwanted ads and content that pop up when you're browsing the Web.

5. Get firewall protection from startup to shutdown.
The powerful, built-in Windows Firewall is now turned on by default. This helps protect Windows XP against viruses and worms that can spread over the Internet.

6. Take control of your security settings.
The new Windows Security Center allows you to easily view your security status and manage key security settings in one convenient place.

7. Get the latest updates easily.
Enhancements to Windows XP's Automatic Updates feature make it even easier to access Windows updates. Plus, new technology has been added to help dial-up customers download updates more efficiently.

8. Help protect your e-mail address.
Improvements to Outlook Express help reduce unwanted e-mail by limiting the possibility of your e-mail address being validated by potential spammers.

9. Take action against crashes caused by browser add-ons.
The new Add-On Manager in Internet Explorer lets you easily view and control add-ons to reduce the potential for crashes and enjoy a more trouble-free browsing experience.

10. Go wireless without the hassle.
SP2 improves wireless support and simplifies the process of discovering and connecting to wireless networks in your home or on the road.

Some intresting facts!

- Steve Woznaik founder of APPLE Computers. He was three months late in filing a name for the business because he didn't get any better name for his new company. So one day he told to the staff: "If I'll not get better name by 5 o'clock today, our company's name will be anything he likes..." So at 5 o'clcok nobody comeup with better name, and he was eating APPLE that time... So he keep the name of the company 'Apple Computers'

- Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard of HP. Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett. And the winner was NOT Bill... the winner was Dave.

- Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie ,creators of UNIX. Dennis Ritchie improved on the B programming language and called it 'New B'. B was created by Ken Thompson as a revision of the Bon programming language (named after his wife Bonnie).He later called it C.

- Larry Page and Sergey Brin, founders of Google. Google was originally named 'Googol'. After founders (Stanford graduates) Sergey Brin and Larry Page presented their project to an angel investor...They received a cheque made out to 'Google' !... So they kept name as GOOGLE.

- Gordon Moore and Bob Noyce ,founders of Intel. Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore wanted to name their new company 'Moore Noyce'. But that was already trademarked by a hotel chain. So they had to settle for an acronym of INTegrated ELectronics... INTEL

- Andreas Bechtolsheim , Bill Joy, Scott Mc Nealy and Vinod Khosla of SUN (StanfordUniversity Network) MicroSystems. Founded by four StanfordUniversity buddies. Andreas Bechtolsheim built a microcomputer. Vinod Khosla recruited him. Scott McNealy to manufacture computers based on it.and Bill Joy to develop a UNIX-based OS for the computer. SUN is the acronym for Stanford University Network .

- Linus Torvalds of Linux Operating System. Linus Torvalds originally used the Minix OS on his system which he replaced by his OS. Hence the working name was Linux (Linus' Minix). He thought the name to be too egotistical and planned to name it Freax (free + freak + x). His friend Ari Lemmk encouraged Linus to upload it to a network so it could be easily downloaded. Ari gave Linus a directory called linux on his FTP server, as he did not like the name Freax. Linus like that directory name and he kept the name of his new OS to LINUX.

Resurrecting corrupted floppies

Here's how to make a floppy disk with "track-0 bad" reusable again:

If the track zero of a floppy disk is found to be bad, no DOS or Windows utility is going to do anything about it--you just have to throw it in your unrecycle bin.

This tip cannot recover the data, but can make the disk carry things again, at least for the time being.

How to:
(A) Format the disk with Linux. Build a Linux file system (don't use mformat). There should be better ways to do it in RedHat 5.2 or other recent versions.

(B) Reformat the disk with Windows. Use the DOS window and the /u option while formatting.