NX and You - If you have it all, what do you get?
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But what if you do have one of these new fangled Athlon64 processors and are running Windows XP Service Pack 2? What do get from all of this?
You also get the protection against viruses and worms that prey on buffer overflows. Code Red (http://www.sarc.com/avcenter/venc/data/codered.worm.html) and SQL Slammer (http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.sqlexp.worm.html) are classic examples of using buffer overflows to get their way. However, be proactive about your computer's security. NX protections are not the be all and end all of security. Firewalls and anti-virus programs are still essential for the home and business computer, and it must be pointed out that not all viruses use buffer overflows. Some, like Randex (http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.randex.btb.html) prey on weak passwords. Others require the user to actually execute the virus manually by using email messages or MSN messages to coax the user. NX is one step in computer security - Windows Update (or the equivalent for other operating systems), firewalls, anti-virus programs, and education will make computers safer.
Some software may start to cause problems under SP2's NX protections. Microsoft says (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;878474) that systems with mpegport.sys can begin to start randomly rebooting and producing blue screens. mpegport.sys is provided by some DVD playing software. Other types of software that depends on 'interesting' and 'unorthodox' programming, such as just-in-time (JIT) compiled programs and potentially emulators and virtual machines may begin to fail. This is because JIT compiled programs need to execute what is in the data pages. Nobody knows exactly what is going to fail until it does, and when it fails, the user will be presented with a blue screen since SP2 can't differentiate between a DVD decoder and a worm.
Now, while those with technical prowess may say that the NX support in SP2 is the next big thing in computer security, Joe Sixpack is not likely to figure out why his DVD playing software is causing blue screens. Also, with the 'interesting' and 'unorthodox' programming that is potentially in the infinite flavours of spyware, adware, Trojans, and viruses out there, it's no wonder that Microsoft is recommending that a system be completely free of them before installing SP2. Drivers also need to be updated as well, since they work with the Windows kernel. Unfortunately, I fear that what's likely to happen is the uninstallation of SP2 if it causes a lot of problems with older drivers. On our forums (http://forums.devhardware.com/) there is still some hesitation towards Service Pack 2 due to the potential for instability and other related problems and a lot of new users who are using Service Pack 1.
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