Thus spake
SCazzo@gmail.com:
> Paul Busby wrote:
>> Thus spake SCazzo@gmail.com:
>>> Not impressed with Belkin so far. Seems they didn't even read my
>>> tech question. I think what you are talking about when you say the
>>> MS crap takes over when plugging in the dongle is what happens
>>> under SP2. I don't have WinXP SP2. I have WinXP SP1.
>>
>> Do you have a specific reason for not installing SP2? I ask as I
>> would expect to be told to install the latest SP, especially when
>> they include a BT subsystem not there before.
>>
>
> I had in the past (before my Bluetooth mess) tried installing SP2 and
> had
> all sorts of problems with it. Didn't play well with Norton. No matter
> on many times I told the s/w to NOT use the SP2 firewall it kept
> insisting
> on turning it on and this messed up Zone Alarm. PC (2GHz) ran so
> slowly it was
> comical......
For reference in case you install SP2 at a later date: you may find ZA has
been updated to play well with SP2 & if it still doesn't & you don't use or
intend to use Internet Connection Sharing (ICS), you can disable the Windows
firewall/ICS under Services. This site is useful for determining what
services don't need to be set to Auto/Manual:
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/service411.htm
I once used the free version of ZA without issues when I ran W98. It never
seemed to be reliable on my PC not long after XP was launched so use Kerio
PFW instead. Like ZA, there is a free version. I can't comment how well ZA
now works under XP.
Unfortunately, SP2 does complicate installing BT because it seems to try to
take over from 3rd party BT stacks & use its own native one. You have 2
choices with SP2 - use the native stack which has fewer profiles than say
the Widcomm stack that most dongles use (which can be complicated in itself)
or you can force XP to use whatever your dongle shipped with (updated to the
latest driver). IIRC, you need to use Device Manager & have XP use your 3rd
party driver. Current 3rd party BT solutions may now install BT over SP2
without intervention or they may not. It may also be beneficial to uninstall
existing BT s/w 1st if you retry SP2.
If your installation of XP was an upgrade over a previous version of Windows
& you decide that the extra security & kernel rewrite etc is worth the
effort, consider reinstalling XP from scratch (even an upgrade version of XP
CDs do allow this, OEM versions occasionally may).
SP2 is a definite improvement over SP1 on my PC. It runs slightly faster &
more smoothly as well. If you run a FW, virus scanner & adwware removal
programs, one can argue that the extra security of SP2 is just not worth the
effort but you may find at some point that new programs or updates will only
work well with SP2. My own inclination would be to use SP2 & do whatever it
takes to get it running as it should. Clean installs can be made a bit
easier by running XP's Files & Settings Transfer Wizard before scrapping
your current copy then re-running it again on the new copy. Most programs
will still need to be reinstalled though. MS Office can save settings as
well which eases things if you use it. Much of my advice assumes you can
reinstall Windows from scratch. Many PCs that shipped with the OS
preinstalled are difficult or impossible to clean install XP without buying
a new copy.
Good luck!
--
Thank people in advance? Thanking or cursing them afterwards at least
gives some feedback!
Bluetooth and Windows XP Service Pack 1
Linear Mode
