After upgrading to Windows XP Service Pack 2 from Windows XP Service Pack 1, I was now able to install the latest version of Internet Explorer: I.E. 7, and Windows Media Player (WMP): 11, the latter just released yesterday, October 30, 2006. Which is great since the latest version of WMP has a more intuitive interface than WMP 10. Internet Explorer 7, is also now faster, I think even faster than the Firefox browser (but still slower than the Opera browser) and mimics some of the functionalites of Firefox, e.g. tabbed browsing and the ability to acquire add-ons. The advantage of using I.E. is that I now get to visit websites and experience all of the site’s features, e.g. Windows Media Player plugin for the I.E. browser. At singer Gary Granada’s site, for example, I was able to play the free MP3 songs with my I.E. browser which I cannot do with Opera (Microsoft has to address some issues with the code for it to work in Opera).

A helpful tip in upgrading to Windows XP Service Pack 2: If you have broadband — DSL, cable, etc. — the best way to upgrade is to utilize Windows’ Automatic Update feature which runs on the background. This feature can be turned ON on your computer. Go to Windows’ Help and Support Center (Start>Help and Support Center) to find out if it’s already turned and how. This is ideal since the upgrade file is very large: around 75 MB or more, depending on your current installation. Once the upgrade file has been downloaded, Windows prompts you to install, and all you need to do is follow the instructions. The installation takes a while, and in my case it seemed the process hanged near the tailend when the computer was cleaning up. When I clicked Cancel though, the installation still finished. I’m not sure now, if I interrupted the clean-up process and left installation files/remnants on my computer. However, the installation is working, so I think I’m okay. At any rate, Automatic Update will contine to prompt you if you are still missing upgraded/updated files.