U.S. colleges and universities have decided to block temporarily an automatic security upgrade for their computers. Known as Service Pack 2 or SP2, it patches numerous gaps in Windows XP, the operating system run by some 200 million personal computer users worldwide, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. The free update includes a hardened Internet firewall to keep out hackers, safeguards against spyware and viruses plus upgrades to automate security features and better alert users to security risks. But from big schools’ perspective, Microsoft’s timing is awful because a massive, simultaneous download could cripple their networks or interfere with existing software. “The timing is extremely unfortunate,” said Anne Agee, deputy chief information officer at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., whose school is blocking SP2’s automatic installation on all faculty and staff computers. “It wouldn’t be so bad if we had gotten this more than a month ago, because at least then we would have had plenty of time to test it and make a decision about how we want to correct for this,” Agee said. © Copyright 2004 by United Press International

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