1-9LESSON 2 IDENTIFYING MAJOR FEATURES OF WINDOWS XP SERVICE PACK 2MAJ...

1-9Lesson 2 Identifying Major Features of Windows XP Service Pack 2

Major Enhancements Included in Windows XP Service Pack 2

The major enhancements in Windows XP Service Pack 2 include Security Center, Auto-

matic Updates, Windows Firewall, and Internet Explorer. This section describes these

enhancements in detail.

Security Center

Security Center is an entirely new feature provided by Windows XP Service Pack 2. The

Security Center service runs as a background process in Windows XP and routinely

checks the status of the following components:

Windows Firewall Security Center detects whether Windows Firewall is enabled

or disabled. Security Center can also detect the presence of some third-party soft-

ware firewall products.

Automatic Updates Security Center detects the current Automatic Updates setting

in Windows XP. If Automatic Updates is turned off or not set to the recommended

settings, the Security Center provides appropriate recommendations.

Virus Protection Security Center detects the presence of antivirus software from

many third-party organizations. If the information is available, the Security Center

service also determines whether the software is up-to-date and whether real-time

scanning is turned on.

When Security Center is running, its presence is indicated by an icon in the notification

area on the Windows taskbar, as shown in Figure 1-1. When Security Center detects an

important security condition (such as improper settings), it displays a pop-up notice in

the notification area.

F01US01

Figure 1-1

The Security Center icon in the notification area provides access to the Security Center

window and alerts the user to security conditions.

You can also double-click the Security Center icon in the notification area to open the

main Security Center window, shown in Figure 1-2. The Security Center window pro-

vides the following information:

■

Resources where you can learn more about security-related issues.

■

An indication of whether Windows Firewall is enabled or disabled, as well as a

shortcut for opening the Windows Firewall dialog box.