Windows Xp SP3

[soccerdude]

Hey guys what are the benefits of having Service Pack 3 installed on Windows XP Professional?

Also if you have done all of the updates so far is it still necessary to install SP3?

Thanks

 

[Bob Jeffery]

short anwser-no
There are no real pros of updating to sp3, other than it packs in all the updates that have been made to sp2. As long as your sp2 is updated, you should be fine.

 

[soccerdude]

Thanks

 

[PC eye]

Incorrect! SP3 contains over 1,000 fixes for bugs seen in XP. MS left out the fixes until Vista came out and starting flopping at first. Typical MS seen there!

Before going to install the 89mb update through the support site or a full redistributable package that does see a number of security and other updates rolled up along with it reaching some 310mb in size or downloading the much larger iso disk image to burn your own SP3 cd for multiple systems the first step advised would be manually creating a system restore point in the event of a bad install.

 

[Bob Jeffery]

Yes it does have bug fixes, but they are very minor bugs that really don't need fixes unless you are seeing problems. Its more of bloatware than a worthy update. With adequate anti virus, firewall, and a safe internet browser like firefox, you shouldn't need to worry.

 

[jdbennet]

Before going to install the 89mb update through the support site or a full redistributable package that does see a number of security and other updates rolled up along with it reaching some 310mb in size

No. Sp3 is a rollup. It introduces no significant functionality other than NAP and black hole detection, which 99% of people wont use.

Sp3 is only 310mb because it includes SP2 which is ~266mb. If you loook at it that way, the actual SP itself is very small. Its just all the stuff that came out since SP2 like windows installer 3.x and all the hotfixes.

 

[PC eye]

The actual SP3 size is 89mb. If you download at through the MS update site everything is simply added on there in the check list of items. A 3rd party site like Softpedia will see everything rolled up in one large download you can save to a folder explaining the actual 316mb size. A sliight typo earlier on that. http://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/Signatures-Updates/Windows-XP-SP3.shtml

When and if you decide to go for the last service pack avoid the IT developers download seen at the MS download page as well as at the site there. For a stand alone desktop that will cause problems. That will be the top download mirror seen on Softpedia's download page seen at http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Windows-XP-SP3-Download-90001.html

The second link is the 316mb regular compressed file with the third being the ISO type disk image you have to burn to a cd-r. You can readily see the obvious difference between 316mb with everything included and simply the 89mb SP3 by itself. The ISO image is some 522mb in size already having downloaded that here!

 

[PHATSPEED7x]

I installed SP3 on both XP computers we have, and it worked great.

 

[jdbennet]

When and if you decide to go for the last service pack avoid the IT developers download seen at the MS download page as well as at the site there. For a stand alone desktop that will cause problems

no problems except that its a needlessly big download.

Handy to have around for future repatching or for integration into new media

 

[porterjw]

A sliight typo earlier on that.

As is every one of your Posts, but I digress...

To the OP, as mentioned by others, so long as you have SP2 updated and good to go, you can forgo SP3. Yes, SP3 has a lot of updates and whatnot, but if you already have a secure system, it's really a moot point.

 

[PC eye]

no problems except that its a needlessly big download.

Handy to have around for future repatching or for integration into new media

To see everything that has come out as far as security fixes for IE and other updates snce 2004 make a list and then calculate just how large everything would actually be and how much download is needed for each one? One large archive stored on the drive can make life far easier when going to reinstall Windows for some reason. whew!

As is every one of your Posts, but I digress...

Did anyone just hear a noise? I could have sworn someone from the "ignore-rant list" made an utterance.

 

[aliwelson]

I have just installed the xp3 updates and havent been able to connect to the internet since. I know I still have the connection there on my router because the laptops in the house can still connect. It is just my pc that cant connect, which is connect via a cable rather than a wireless connection like the laptops. Do I need to change some settings??
can anyone help?

 

[StrangleHold]

The actual SP3 size is 89mb. If you download at through the MS update site everything is simply added on there in the check list of items. A 3rd party site like Softpedia will see everything rolled up in one large download you can save to a folder explaining the actual 316mb size. A sliight typo earlier on that. http://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/Signatures-Updates/Windows-XP-SP3.shtml

When and if you decide to go for the last service pack avoid the IT developers download seen at the MS download page as well as at the site there. For a stand alone desktop that will cause problems. That will be the top download mirror seen on Softpedia's download page seen at http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Windows-XP-SP3-Download-90001.html

The second link is the 316mb regular compressed file with the third being the ISO type disk image you have to burn to a cd-r. You can readily see the obvious difference between 316mb with everything included and simply the 89mb SP3 by itself. The ISO image is some 522mb in size already having downloaded that here!

Thats one of the most unreadable hogwash post I have ever read.

 

[StrangleHold]

I have just installed the xp3 updates and havent been able to connect to the internet since. I know I still have the connection there on my router because the laptops in the house can still connect. It is just my pc that cant connect, which is connect via a cable rather than a wireless connection like the laptops. Do I need to change some settings??
can anyone help?

Check in your control panel under your LAN device and see if there is any yellow exclamation points.

 

[patrickv]

Did anyone just hear a noise? I could have sworn someone from the "ignore-rant list" made an utterance.

so you're waiting for someone to back you up ? stop posting BS for once

That one of the most unreadable hogwash post I have ever read.

An updated XP SP2 will have no problems installing SP3.
I'm using SP3 for the moment on some PC's at work and no problems at all. Just a small update package

 

[scooter]

Hah,,
I havent used xp in a looong time but I just had a buddy drop off his toshiba laptop and was like...fix it.

So I'm actually new to this sp3 pack, although after I reformatted its only telling me to do sp3 and it includes everything in the pack.

I selected everything I saw on win update except sp3 and the total time was nearly 2 hours with 33 updates

When I deselect all and only pick sp3, it is 1 update with a time eta of 56 minutes.

 

[StrangleHold]

I,ve had no problem with SP3 either, Installed it on a bunch of computers. I dont like to install SPs through Windows Update though. I just download the SP and burn it on a CD and use it on the computers I build.

 

[PC eye]

so you're waiting for someone to back you up ? stop posting BS for once

Some new member reopens an older thread and you think I'm waiting for anything? I will have to agree with one comment about VBulliten seeing problems. Your crap still appears despite having you in the "Ignorant List" as well as someone else lately.

 

[Intel_man]

Hah,,
I havent used xp in a looong time but I just had a buddy drop off his toshiba laptop and was like...fix it.

So I'm actually new to this sp3 pack, although after I reformatted its only telling me to do sp3 and it includes everything in the pack.

I selected everything I saw on win update except sp3 and the total time was nearly 2 hours with 33 updates

When I deselect all and only pick sp3, it is 1 update with a time eta of 56 minutes.

That's because you're updating each thing one by one while SP3 is just everything bunched together.