Have you updated to Windows XP Service pack 3?
Asked by
mcbealer (
10229
)
July 29th, 2008
Windows update keeps telling me that the update is ready for my computer. I remember attempting before, and it seemed way more entailed than I had time for, so I cancelled it.
I like to keep things up-to-date, so it’s bugging me that this is hanging out there. I do have a bunch of questions though, if any flutherites would like to take a stab at them….
1) Any maintenance I should do beforehand?
2) Any troubleshooting tips I should be aware of?
3) Also, in your response, please let me know if you have installed this update, and any problems you ran into during the process.
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12 Answers
Yes, we have installed it on a bunch of computers here at work…so far so good, no issues to report.
they always suggest that you backup your data before an update like this, but I have never had any problems with the service packs crashing my system. of course, it does happen, so it is probably not a bad idea to do so.
No, and I would suggest that you not do it either. Lots of folks are reporting no troubles, others, usually consumer level folks are seeing some problems. Personally speaking, I think MS released SP3 just to make problems so people would feel better about upgrading to Vista.
We’ve been updating them on work machines that mainly run Office and a couple SQL apps, and it’s been fine so far.
I’ve heard of issues with Service Pack 3: However, I have it installed on 3 machines and nothing to report. Everyone’s PC is, admittedly, different.
Note: Two of these machines have a special bootleg copy of XP on them that passes WGA and everything, so it matters not if it’s a hacked copy or an OEM bulk edition.
I know of no real benefits and have heard horror stories, so I have avoided it myself except on one brand new computer I helped someone get, which came shipped with SP3, and despite having very little history, is locking up at random for no apparent reason. I have no plans to ever install SP3 unless and until forced to.
I’m running SP2 at the moment and I don’t find any reason to upgrade. Here are some problems that may occur if I did:
1. It would most likely screw up my computer.
2. Break my apps.
3. Have compatibility issues.
And most of all, since I use dialup (28.8 kps which actually averages around 2.5 kps download) I do not have the time or patience to download it. There you go.
@ all ~ well, so far the consensus is “If it’s not broken, why fix it”
Glad to hear it is optional, I think I’ll go in and mark it “forget this update”
I did and was p!ssed of to find they had removed my beloved address bar! ugh. There is a third party addon, but this seemed rather counter productive to me.
@ tekn0lust ~ it removes the url address bar?
Not from IE, but from the desktop toolbar across the bottom. It’s due to an antitrust ruling against MS for having IE too integrated with the OS.
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