SP3 - yes or no?

[PPRuNe Pop]

I just cannot make up my mind.

Good or bad? All I know is that MS keep reminding to download it.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Give us a clue what you're talking about? - there are dozens of MS products which have an SP3.

[Bushfiva]

Yes, why not if it's badgering you all the time.

Fix list at List of fixes that are included in Windows XP Service Pack 3. There's a couple of features that irritate some people, but you can set them the way you want them faster than you can post about them.

If you routinely don't update stuff from anyone, and you have an ATI video card, you may want to update ATI's Catalyst drivers first. If you do routinely update, then the incompatibility was fixed way back.

dozens

No there's not.

[Saab Dastard]

My thought on this is that when you reach a point when you want or need to perform a full system re-installation, then you should add definitely add SP3.

Bear in mind that you will almost certainly have installed all the security fixes listed in Bushfiva's link to your SP2 installation, and possibly some others also.

Most reports of problems with SP3 that I have seen appear to be when installing to an existing SP2 configuration, so be sure that you really are prepared (with backups etc.) for the possibility of some pain.

SD

[jimtherev]

... but then, if you have a crash...

Some time ago, having installed SP3, my system went TU. 'twas something about drivers, not XP itself - you should see the peripherals I've got strapped onto this thing.

Um: what to do?

Then I remembered that in XP, if you put the CD in, one of the options is to type 'R' to repair windows. So, in with my XP with SP2, and guess what: it wouldn't run because I'd SP3'd the system.

Nothing for it but to back up and do a clean reinstallation. Lost a lot of settings and tweaks, of course, but at least I still have a m/c that works... for now. Now then. Do I install SP3 again?

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Quote:
dozens
No there's not.

OK, so I hadn't counted. But just the top half of the first page of 100,000 results on MSDN lists SP3s for

Office 2003
Visio 2003
Windows XP
Office 2003
eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0
Office XP
.NET Compact Framework 1.0
Web Services Enhancements 2.0
SqlXml 3.0
Project 2003
OneNote 2003
Outlook Live 2003
Excel Viewer 2003
MDAC 2.5
Word Viewer 2003
Windows SharePoint Services
.NET Framework 1.0
ISA Server 2004 Standard Edition
Systems Management Server 2003

so yes, I was right, dozens.

[Bushfiva]

Well you're on your way to winning the argument, although you've only listed 19 items so far. But in context, would the average person think PpruNe Pop is talking about XP SP3, which everone has been encouraged to download every week since May 2008, or Word Viewer 2003?

And after you've gone to the effort of finding another 5 SP3s, it still won't have answered his question.

[PPRuNe Pop]

XP SP3 is the one. Seems to me I might be better off with "if ain't broke don't fix it!"

Unless.................................................!

[Gertrude the Wombat]

or Word Viewer 2003?

Just checked and discovered I'm running Word 2002 SP3 on this box (that's another one that wasn't on my list), so some time in living memory that must have asked me to download the SP3.

And ... er ... I rather suspect that there are lots of people running XP but with rather older versions of Office ... being ones that are easier to copy than the newer versions.

Now if the original question was about SP5a then that'd have been easier, so far as I know there was only ever one of those ... whoops, no, there were several of those too.

[frostbite]

Downloaded it months ago but I've read of so many bad experiences I've not installed it.

[gas path]

PPRuNe Pop, I've loaded XP (home and pro) SP3 onto 5 computers so far with no ill effects.
There is always a first time though

[Guest 112233]

A further choice

My Set up is as follows BT Home Hub Mk1 - TKIP Encrypt.)

Old Compaq - Xp Home with Belkin Wirless PCMCIA Card 802.3/g - No on board Wireless - Upgrade to XP3. No probs at all.

Clone (AJP Now AZUS) - XP Home on Board Wireless Realtec 802.3/g Wireless - Wireless would not work - connection established to router but limited/ no connectivity. went back to Backups. XP2 only works fine.

New (5 Weeks ago ) Dell Vostro 1310 using in built wireless card 802.3 G - XP pro SP3. A day of misery, now working by temporarly allowing Windows Zero Config service and getting Wondows XP PRO to repair connection. WZC then disabled. use Run, Msconfig to disable/enable/disable the service. Microsoft do a Reg fix to stop you being pestered to upgrade to XP3

In short impossible to predict behaviour .

CAT III

[Keef]

I loaded and installed it on the laptop, and had serious problems. I had to start again to install SP2.

It seems that most people have no problem with it, but that a few find it screws their machine up completely.

Its main purpose was to plug some very esoteric holes in some obscure bits of the operating system. I relied on my firewall, plus ZoneAlarm, plus Anti-Virus, plus (etc etc) to protect me from those holes. I left the desktop at SP2 status,and it works fine.

My view: don't bother.

I heard a malicious unfounded assertion that it had been deliberately "plugged" to force upgrade to Vista or son-of-Vista at some future date. I don't think even M$ would do that, but it did raise a grin at the time.

[John Marsh]

I gather that advances in Microsoft software can, occasionally, make a pig's ear of things...so I'm of the same mind as Keef on this. XP + SP2 with a bi-directional firewall, Avast resident AV, Superantispyware, Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, Spybot S&D, Spywareblaster and various Sysinternals utilities to keep an eye on activity. No problems, so no SP3.

As it's now full steam ahead with Windows 7, perhaps SP3 could be 'plugged' accordingly? Or is Vista all the 'plug' the new OS needs?

[green granite]

If you do do it, download it as a package and then install it rather than as an auto update. It's the latter that seems to cause the most problems. And of course you should,in theory, be able to do a roll back.

[Saab Dastard]

Very good point, GG. I have never installed a MS operating system SP as an on-line update, and never will!

SD

[Atlas Shrugged]

XP + SP2 with a bi-directional firewall, Avast resident AV, Superantispyware, Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, Spybot S&D, Spywareblaster and various Sysinternals utilities to keep an eye on activity.

Don't you get the feeling nowadays that you have to have more software to keep the nasties out than actual programs?

[BEagle]

Pop, MS say that, if you've had all the updates freely available from them, you will effectively have Win XP SP3.


However, if you don't download SP3, even though you might reasonably see it as being superfluous, your computer will not 'identify itself' as having SP3 and may have problems with future sofware which requires a SP3 computer.

Quite why MS Update couldn't check your previous download history, confirm that you therefore have SP3 equivalence and send a small file to allow your computer to report itself as having SP3, I don't know.

I had no problems with one laptop; however, I used the very hepful MS 'remote assistance' to find and fix the problem which was blocking SP3 on the other laptop. Some 'registry permission' or somesuch geekery.

No problems at all with either laptop now - and both have all the latest MS Update software downloads.

[PPRuNe Pop]

Thanks BEags, and thank you one and all.

I think I am going to sit tight. I have always 'allowed' MS to do auto updates so if BEags is right I should have them.

Anyway, the fact of the matter is that my pooter runs pretty (very) well with some precautions I took many moons ago and I do not possess anything that slows it down. Mostly thanks to Mr Gibson - www.grc.com - a great site.

[modtinbasher]

Unfortunately I just couldn't resist any more! I was so irritated by an MS XP Home "update" that just refused to work, hence error messages every time I booted up, that I thought SP3 might solve the problem.

Stupid boy!!!


I've now got another error message:

- KHost.exe

- - The application failed to initialise properly (0xc0000022) Click OK to terminate the application

So I don't know what this is not allowing me to do or what it's actually doing to the PC itself. Or, even whether I should just lay back and think of England and ignore it.

I've done some research and there are lots of supposed fixes on Google that (they say) can take 3 minutes or several hours by the look of it! I'm hesitant about downloading anything from other than a recognised source in case I get nobbled.

So, any comments? Any Ppruner used a fix that works where you don't risk losing all your stuff and have to rebuild the disc?

Thanks

MTB