Microsoft KB Archive/886264

= Programs that may experience a change in behavior after you install Windows XP Service Pack 2 =

Article ID: 886264

Article Last Modified on 11/28/2007

-

APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
 * Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2

-



Notice
This article is intended for advanced computer users. If you are not comfortable with advanced troubleshooting, you might want to ask someone for help or contact support. For information about how to do this, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/



Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure that you back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 How to back up and restore the registry in Windows XP and Windows Vista



INTRODUCTION
This article contains a list of the programs that may experience a change in behavior when the programs are run on a Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)-based computer.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

884130 Programs that are known to experience a loss of functionality when they run on a Windows XP Service Pack 2-based computer

Article Contents

 * Programs that are affected by the changes in Internet Explorer
 * Programs that are affected by the changes in Apps Help services
 * Programs that are affected by the changes in Windows Firewall
 * Programs that are affected by the changes in the Remote Procedure Call service
 * Programs that are affected by the changes in Rich Text Format
 * Changes that affect the Windows Firewall Security Warning and networked games
 * Additional programs that function differently with Windows XP SP2
 * References



Programs that are affected by the changes in Internet Explorer
Changes to the following features in Microsoft Internet Explorer may affect program behavior:
 * Pop-up Blocker
 * Information Bar
 * File Download Security Warning
 * Local Machine Zone Security

For more information about the changes to Internet Explorer, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/ieoeoverview.mspx

The following table lists programs that may experience a change of behavior when you run the program on a Windows XP SP2-based computer.

back to contents

Programs that are affected by the changes in Apps Help services
The Apps Help services component provides Help information to you when you run a program with a known compatibility problem. When the program runs, a dialog box is displayed with a brief description of the issue. You can then visit the Web site of the program vendor for an update or for information about resolving the issue.

The following table lists programs that may generate an Apps Help message when you run the program on a Windows XP SP2-based computer.

back to contents

Programs that are affected by the changes in Windows Firewall
For client-based or server-based programs that communicate over the Internet or over a network, the Windows Firewall feature in Windows XP SP2 may be blocking unsolicited connections to your computer. (Windows Firewall was formerly known as Internet Connection Firewall.)

Examples of client-based or server-based programs that may experience this issue include the following:
 * Multiplayer games that are used over the Internet.
 * Instant message programs that are used over the Internet.
 * Windows XP SP2-based client programs that receive data from a server.
 * Windows XP SP2-based server programs that respond to client requests.

For more information about programs that may stop working because of the Windows Firewall feature and how to troubleshoot these issues, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

842242 Windows Firewall may block some programs from communicating over the Internet after you install Windows XP Service Pack 2

875357 Troubleshooting Windows Firewall settings in Windows XP Service Pack 2

The following table lists programs that may stop working on a Windows XP SP2-based computer because of the Windows Firewall.

back to contents

Programs that are affected by the changes in the Remote Procedure Call service
Significant changes have been made to the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service. These changes may cause programs that make anonymous calls to stop working.

The following table lists programs that may stop working on a Windows XP SP2-based computer. If you have issues with these programs, visit the following Microsoft Web site for information about configuring the RPC service in Windows XP SP2:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/6858ad63-7254-4630-a41d-67305964312c.aspx

back to contents

Programs that are affected by the changes in Rich Text Format
Rich Text Format (RTF) is a text document format (.rtf) that is sometimes used instead of Plain Text format (.txt) or Microsoft Word format (.doc). Windows XP SP2 disables the RTF converters that were installed with versions of Windows XP that are earlier than Windows XP SP2. If you do not have an RTF converter from an installed program, documents that require this converter will not open.

The following table lists programs that use RTF for Readme and Help files and that may not open when you run the program on a Windows XP SP2-based computer.

The Rich Text Converter has been removed from Windows XP, but most word processing programs provide this functionality. If you have problems with the programs that are listed in the table, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

883090 Error message when you open a document file in Windows XP Service Pack 2

back to contents

Changes that affect the Windows Firewall Security Warning and networked games
Most multiplayer network games will cause the Windows Firewall Security Warning dialog box to indicate when the game starts or when the game looks for an online game server. The nature of these games may cause the Windows Firewall Security Warning dialog box to open behind the running game window or not to open at all. This scenario may cause you to think that the game has no network connectivity or may cause the game to stop responding or quit unexpectedly.

When Windows Firewall Security Warning dialog box opens behind a game, quit the game, accept the security warning, and then restart the game. You will have to do this only one time as the game will be automatically added to the Windows Firewall exception list.

If the Windows Firewall Security Warning dialog box does not open after you quit the game, you may have to manually add the game to the Windows Firewall exception list.

For more information about how to enable programs by using Windows Firewall, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

842242 Windows Firewall may block some programs from communicating over the Internet after you install Windows XP Service Pack 2

The following table lists programs that may stop working because of issues with the Windows Firewall security warning. When you use multiplayer functionality, the game may not respond or may close unexpectedly.

If you have a problem with one of these programs, quit the program, and then add the program to the Windows Firewall exception list.

back to contents

Additional programs that function differently with Windows XP SP2
Warning If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

Most of the following programs that were tested in Windows XP SP2 were found to have functional changes that could not be categorized for easy searching. These programs are listed alphabetically by program name in the following table.

Note For programs that exhibit issues on 64-bit-based computers that support the No Execute (NX) technology, the new Data Execution Prevention feature that is included with Windows XP SP2 may be preventing the programs from running correctly. For more information about how to use the Data Execution Prevention feature, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

875351 You receive a &quot;Data Execution Prevention&quot; error message in Windows XP Service Pack 2 or in Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005

Programs that are known to experience a loss of functionality with Windows XP SP2
Note For programs that exhibit issues on 64-bit-based computers that support the No Execute (NX) technology, the new Data Execution Prevention feature that is included with Windows XP SP2 may be preventing the programs from running correctly. For more information about how to use the Data Execution Prevention feature, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

875351 You receive a &quot;Data Execution Prevention&quot; error message in Windows XP Service Pack 2 or in Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005

back to contents