Thread: XP SP3

I have received notification that I can install SP3 for my windows XP. Has anyone installed the update and if so, any issues?

Its installed on the entirety of my network (60 machines of varying hardware) and no problems for the last month. Running 2008 NAP is the only reason I found to upgrade however... that and on new installs it installs all the major updates instead of piecemealing them.

This may not apply to all users who choose to install SP3 on their machines, but I did have issues on one of mine.

Now, being said this is a Macbook Pro, running Boot Camp with WinXP SP2 on a partition Apple creates under Boot Camp, not a true standalone WinXP Machine.
After seeing what it did to my Mac, I didn't even try on my PC Gaming rig.

I had troubles with bluescreen crashes after installing SP3. Seems incompatibility with drivers MAC Leopard loads into Win Directory. After 4 re-installs, and two phone calls to M/S, they told me there were issues still in SP3 and they were working on them. Funny, a service pack for a service pack, go Billy boy.

After researching some, there were more things that SP3 added or changed I didn't care for.
Such as:
It automatically changes to IE7, with no way to revert to previous releases of IE, without a total format of HDD, and your WinXP disk.
Not all will mind that this happens, but some sites don't work with IE7, ie: EA Sports Download Manager. Which, my dnld'd Crysis game needs to operate. Have to have IE6 for it. So, I would have lost my Crysis, or had to re-purchase it again.
If you stay @ Sp2, you can add IE7 and use it, with IE6 running next to it, as long as IE6 is still default, according to Windows. Manually launch IE7 from shortcut, no problemo.

After I chose not to install SP3, M/S has stated that Mac users need new versions of Apple's Boot Camp and VMware's Fusion to be compatible with XP SP3 for my above noted issue on April 25, 2008. I still won't try it.

Seems M/S wants to control your use of programs, by making you stay on IE7, after installing SP3, which I feel this is my machine, and I should be able to use what I want, not what Billy boy tells me I have to use from now on. Maybe it's my control issue that is the problem, so use your own judgement about "upgrading" to SP3.

What I wound up doing was dnld'g the required security fixes, without the clutter SP3 adds, that I don't use/need/want, such as:
Microsoft® Management Console (MMC) 3.0 and the Microsoft Core XML
Services 6.0 (MSXML6);
Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) 2.5, which is needed if you use Windows Live™ OneCare™; Digital Identity Management Service (DIMS), for users who log on to any domain-joined computer;
Remote Desktop Protocol 6.1, Used for communication between the Terminal Server and the Terminal Server Client, in other words; a WinXP machine talking to a Vista machine in an enclosed network.

None of these are needed for a Gaming rig, if that is all the PC is used for, these are infrastructure networks talking to each other.

Here is the article explaining more details about SP3 issues:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13554_3-9929300-33.html

install SP3, it makes your pc approx. 13% faster than how it runs on SP2 all you need to do to convince me to upgrade it is say it runs faster, i could care less if my printer doesn't work lol.

I installed SP3 - everything works fine. I can't say I notice any difference. I even kept IE 6 - I use Firefox otherwise but I need IE 6 for work.

My automatic updates for everything are turned off, however and I have denied the IE 7 update - do updates manually once a week or so, virus scan and defrag after update - your computer will work better I promise, with fewer Windows 'surprises'. You will miss half of the updates that turn out to need their own updates, and other assorted half-assed Microsoft nonsense.

If BF3 comes out for Mac, I'm buying a Mac and that's it for me and Windows/DOS/layers of crap/whatever-the-hell-is-wrong-with-it-generally.

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