WinXP SP3?

B

Buck268

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Nov 5, 2006
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Who here has upgraded to SP3 so far? I know its not exactly cutting edge news, but I haven't had any problems with SP2, so I figured I'd wait for any SP3 issues to get resolved before upgrading.

FWIW, I'm on a Toshiba laptop with Celeron processor and ATI graphics. Should I take the plunge? What will SP3 provide and what are some drawbacks?
 
Oh, let me guess! Um ... If it ain't broke yet, then wait till it does get infected with all kinds of malware and gives away your credit and banking information to thieves, is used by spammers and hackers for DOS attacks, and eventually becomes totally unusable before you do anything to patch the holes in your security?

I waited a day or so and checked the net to see if it was causing problems before I installed it....
 
do it. so far as I know all the recent holes found were not affected by adding SP3. While I haven't noticed much change, I haven't had any problems. And as Couger mentioned, love it, or hate it. updates happen for a reason, mostly so the programmers can catch up with what marketing promised, and because there is no amount of lab testing that can find all the holes a bored 14 year old can.
 
Cougar Allen said:
Oh, let me guess! Um ... If it ain't broke yet, then wait till it does get infected with all kinds of malware and gives away your credit and banking information to thieves, is used by spammers and hackers for DOS attacks, and eventually becomes totally unusable before you do anything to patch the holes in your security?

I waited a day or so and checked the net to see if it was causing problems before I installed it....
Click to expand...

I agree

I've been running it since it was released with no problems.
 
I've installed it on our computers. No problems. One warning though. On both the computers I upgraded, on one of the reboots subsequent to the download, the computers acted like they had locked up for some number of minutes, but as I learned later, it was just part of the SP3 upgrade process.

Razz
 
PC Pitstop is still recommending against the installation, and has a whole list of "fixes" if things go wrong.
The main problem it seems is with certain chipset/motherboard combinations. If your computer does not have one of these, you're likely OK.
Here's an article (from among several):
http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/2008/...p3-still-not-ready-news-flash-do-not-install/

I've been installing all the security patches and other updates; just not SP3.
 
Thanks for the input everyone. I'll have to check out that site and google some more (didn't turn up much useful info last night).
 
i have SP3 and it works good i got it after i got some viruses ...so i saw upgrade its not different you hardly will know...
 
SP3 contains all the multiple security fixes and alterations to Internet Explorer itself to make it safer.

Run the Disk Cleanup Tool in Start Programs/Accessories/System Tools and then do the upgrade. On the computer forums I monitor, I only know of one person who had trouble. The upgrade to SP3 is fully reversible anyway via Add/Remove Programs in the Windows Control Panel.

As mentioned, don't panic if the installation seems to stop. In fact the best thing is to set it off and then go and eat dinner and have a couple of beers. When you get back it will be installed
 
As was mentioned earlier, if you do not install SP3 along with the rest of the security updates, you run a very real risk of having your computer infected with any number of nasties. The result could be anything from lost performance to having your credit card information stolen to having your computer crash and losing the data on your hard drive.

Keeping your operating system up to date is one of the most important things you can do to keep your computer and data secure.

While you are at it, update Java and MS Office.
 
Microsoft has been updating SP2 regularly - so I believe that the security benefits of SP3 are actually incoroprated, if one updates SP2 regularly (around the 9th of each month).

There are people who have held back from upgrading to XP-SP3 because of the havoc/problems about 8 months ago when SP3 was first released -

well balanced article from Information Week -

Windows XP SP3 Sows Havoc, Users Complain

A good FAQ -

Paul Thurrott's Windows XP Service Pack 3 FAQ

" If you're already running XP and have been regularly updating your systems all along, the release of XP SP3 will be a minor event. "

" Q: What are these new features I keep hearing about?
A: Windows XP Service Pack 3 will not include any major new features, but it will include four minor new features that improve the system's reliability and security. Contrary to reports, Microsoft has been very up-front about these functional additions for quite some time now.

These new features include:

Network Access Protection compatibility. Announced years ago, this feature allows Windows XP machines to interact with the NAP feature in Windows Server 2008. This functionality is built into the RTM version of Windows Vista as well.

Product Key-less install option. As with Windows Vista, new XP with SP3 installs can proceed without entering a product key during Setup.

Kernel Mode Cryptographics Module. A new kernel module that "encapsulates several different cryptographic algorithms," according to Microsoft.

"Black hole" router detection algorithm. XP gains the ability to ignore network routers that incorrectly drop certain kinds of network packets. This, too, is a feature of Windows Vista.

And that's about it. Nothing dramatic, as promised.

Q: That's it? Is there anything else?
Nothing major. Some features have actually been removed, like the taskbar-based Address Bar option. "


There is a good definitive and detailed page on the problems including a very useful tool that can check one's PC from a MS Influential -

Jesper's Blog - Does your AMD-based computer boot after installing XP SP3?

" If you have an AMD-based computer, and all you want to do is prevent the problem before installing Service Pack 3, then try the new tool I just wrote. It will first check whether you have an AMD-based computer. If you do it will check whether the IntelPPM driver is set to load. If it is it will offer you an option to disable it. The tool works by simply double-clicking it. "

Hope that helps,

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