What is this Software Distribution Service 2.0?

The problems described may be more to do with verclsid.exe - check out http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918165 for more information.

No need to thank me.

So how do you fix the problem! This update is screwing up my computer. Please tell me the fix in layman terms. Thank you! I hate Microsoft! God, I wish they would file for bankruptcy!

Which problem exactly?

referred to is the vicious circle problem. The same thing is happening to me. When I restore to a point before SDS 2.0 came in, the problems go away. When the machine updates itself, they're back. In my case, the video defaults to the lowest color and resolution and won't let itself be corrected (WinXP offers to correct it automatically, but nothing happens). In addition, lines of text in the word processor become solid black lines and the machine slows to a crawl. Going back to manual update may not be the complete answer - it still leaves open the question of trying to ascertain exactly which element of the update is causing the problem - maybe we'll get lucky and it'll be obvious...

I'VE A QUESTION Why is it that a lot of people have problems with SDS 2.0 and, using XPSP2, I've never had any problem with SDS 2.0 or updates from MS or with using System Restore? And I suspect I'm far from the only one who has been SDS-problem free

I can make some vague guesses as to the answer but I would love to have others' take on my question.

In our two LANs, all machines have had the update, and SDS, and only one has trouble digesting it...

It does appear to be the verclsid.exe file. As long as I keep it off the problem machine, everything runs fine. However, the HP file MS thinks it's interacting with is not on that machine. It appears to be something else. The MS page on the problem is truncated. It mentions Nvidia, but then doesn't continue. Doesn't help me, anyway, the machine has the generic Intel graphics accelerator...

This is how it began:

I was halfway through my auditing and attestation class; so you can imagine how bored I was. That's when the update window popped up on the bottom left corner of my machine. It said, "updates are available" and I said, "What the hell". So I downloaded the updates.

Days later, my computer's battery started to conflict with AC power. Now, my computer is shutting down frequently and refusing to come back on (aka being a b*tch). I just bought this b*tch in December, because my old b*tch was being a super b*tch.

I don't want my new b*tch to become a super b*tch. Please help me! My norton anti-virus is screwed up and the culprit is software distribution system 2.0. I have a HP Pavillion dv1000.

Now let me take a moment to damn Microsoft to a lifetime of hindquarter violations. Bill Gates' monopoly over computing is ruining the PC world! The lack of competition is giving rise to pieces of sh*t such as software distribution service 2.0. Hell, for all I know, SDS 2.0 could be a CIA monitoring system that solely tracks porn usage. I guess I won't be able to run for President of the United States of America. Politicians may already have enough incriminating evidence against me to thwart any political aspirations I may have or develop in the near future.

But I digress, I will kiss the feet of the man who posts a fix to this problem.

The problem is most likely the verclsid problem if you take a look at the referenced MS page http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918165 it will tell you how to add identifiers to the verclsid whitelist so it doesn't cause hangs. Unfortunately there are only a couple of known ones detailed - but yours may be among them.

Most notable are NVIDIA and HP drivers - well the shell extensions installed as part of the driver package to be more accurate.

I failed computer science. Plus, all I comprehended was the phrase "proceed at your own risk".

Rename the "verclsid.exe" that is in the System32 folder to verclsid.old. Reboot. If that is what is causing the problem you are speaking of it should now be fixed. This is just a workaround tho. MS was supposed to release a patch for the patch that caused problems when it installed, so now they are repatching the patch. ;)

I had more updates yesterday so that fix may already have been implemented.

the default on updates to "ask me." Unfortunately, once the updates are DLed, when you try to shut down Windows, you get the "install before shutting down" message. If you click on "no," the machine won't shut down. In my case, I've been unable to find the HP file involved, so it's definitely something else causing the conflict. I have a lot of leftover HP files on that machine from a former HP scanner, so I plan to go in and rub them out and see if that helps...

I wouldn't worry about the HP files as I've seen this on boxes with nothing more than the native XP\HP files.

I've already seen that. Although the conflict is definitely something coming in with the WinXP update of last week, my symptoms are not really in line with the problems MS delineates on their page. My video on this machine is stuck on lowest resolution/color and won't correct. Text lines in the word processor become solid black lines and the machine slows dramatically. None of these are symptoms noted by MS. Restoring behind last Wednesday's update cures all of them...

Sounds like you may have 2 different issues. If I'm not mistaken there was also a video driver update. ATM I don't remember if it was Intel or Nvidia, but how 'bout just trying to roll back the video driver rather than doing a restore?