Microsoft has informed their largest customers, via email, that the Automatic Update deployment of Windows XP Service Pack 2 will be delayed at least until August 25. This gives customers more time to block the auto updates while they work to settle incompatibilities between their current applications and the stricter security standards of SP 2. You can read more at ZD Net .

A lot of noise has been made in the past day or two about the 50 programs (or so) that are incompatible with Windows XP Service Pack 2. That's not quite the case. In the past, most versions of Windows left security lax by default. Think of it as leaving doors unlocked. Legitimate third-party programs took advantage of these unlocked doors to do their business. (Of course, open doors also enable other activity.) Windows XP Service Pack 2 is different. Security is tighter by default, and most of these previously open doors are locked. So the third-party software either needs to be changed so that they know how to deal with the suddenly-locked door, or the Windows user can just unlock the doors for them.

For example, the new Windows Firewall in Windows XP Service Pack 2, when left to its default settings, will cause a number of online games to stop working. The reason is that the firewall shuts ports that the game normally uses to communicate with other gamers. Games affected include: Lego Chess Chess Advantage III; EA Games Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2; Atari Unreal Tournament 2003, and Unreal Tournament Game of the Year; VALUSoft Illegal Street Drag 1.0; Atari Scrabble 3.0; and Activision StarFleet Command III 1.0. In general, Microsoft says to check the game's documentation to see what ports need to be opened. Then go to http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=842242 for instructions on how to open the ports.

Also, the first post-Service Pack 2 hotfix for Windows XP (or you can look at it as the first pre-Service Pack 3 hotfix) has been released by Microsoft. This fixes a bug introduced by Windows XP Service Pack 2 that may prevent programs from working with IP addresses in the loopback range other than 127.0.0.1. If you have a program that needs to connect to one of these addresses, you may want to contact Microsoft Technical Support and ask for the hotfix described in Knowledge Base article 884020. Note that you may get charged for this call.

The BugBlog will have a daily look at the things that Service Pack 2 fixes and breaks.