It was with great trepidation that I finally installed Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) on Friday. I know the darn thing's been available since August, but I didn't have time for it until now.

Fortunately, I Googled SP2 for issues before installing it from the CD-ROM I ordered. According to some newsgroup posts, only Norton AntiVirus 2004 and 2005 are compatible with SP2. However, after following the instructions on Neville Hobson's blog, SP2 recognized my copy of NAV 2002. I should add that installing the WMI component via Live Update required two reboots of Windows XP. I updated NAV before installing SP2, but the blog implies NAV can also be updated after SP2 is installed.

I wish I could say the same about Flash MX Professional 2004. The first time I launched it after installing SP2, my CPU spiked to 100% and I had to end the flash.exe process. The second time I launched Flash 2004, I got as far as the Start Page, and then Flash locked up again. Not even the Flash MX 2004 Hotfix made a difference. I was prepared to uninstall/reinstall Flash 2004, or worse, use System Restore to return XP Pro to its pre-SP2 state. In the end, the solution was double-clicking an FLA file in Windows Explorer. Once it opened, I disabled the Start Page in Flash's Preferences. After launching and quitting Flash 2004 a couple times, I was able to enable the Start Page again. I still have no idea what caused this issue, and why this workaround was necessary.

I'm happy to report that Dreamweaver MX 2004 and ColdFusion MX 6.1 appear to be functioning normally. So far, I haven't experienced the overall system slowdown that some SP2 users are reporting, although deleting files in Windows Explorer seems to take forever now.

Macromedia has created an XP Service Pack 2 Support Center to explain issues that arise with Flash Player, Dreamweaver, ColdFusion, and other MM applications. You can also find out more about SP2 on Microsoft's web site.