The Security Mentor

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Microsoft has been sending out tons, not pounds, of cure the last few years. Megabytes of security patches every month are better than nothing, but still a royal pain to install.

Microsoft is fixing some root causes of problems in SP2. For a home user the big news is that the web browser and the email program are less promiscuous about installing programs from strangers. Under the hood they've wired in some clever prevention to stop entire classes of attacks from working. The built-in firewall is on without any work from you and is a respectable product.

What can you expect from SP2? There will still be security problems. Windows is just too big and complicated to be problem-free. You can realistically expect fewer problems and less severe ones. You'll still need to have up-to-date antivirus software. You'll have some more decisions to make: instead of installing software from Web sites behind your back, SP2 will ask you first. Say "No" unless you trust the supplier and know what the software is for.

(Disclosure: I'm a former and prospective Microsoft employee)