Windows XP SP3, anyone?

[Nords]

I dredged these posts up from last December:

BTW Reference Vista versus XP. I actually have no way to compare Vista to XP however it has been a week since I downloaded (344 MB) and installed Windows XP SP3 RC1 and I am happy to say it runs just like prior to SP3 RC1. I have XP Pro and I am also running Firefox, Thunderbird, Office 2002 Pro, and the usual FREE Anti-whatever (Avast, Spyware Blaster, SpyBot S&D and Adaware). BTW I downloaded it from MajorGeeks.com. I did not intend to hi-jack the thread.

SP3 does allegedly contain some performance improvements, and actually darn good ones. Supposed to make XP up to 30% faster than vista in some benchmarks.

For whatever reason, my Windows Update utility finally got around to nagging me about installing SP3.

I'm a good little computer geek, and I know all about downloads & installs & backups and all the "gotchas". If there was a major problem with SP3 then Kim Komando would probably have delivered a breathless update on it by now in my daily e-mails. However being good at computer geeking it is completely different from wanting to do it, and I prefer to do as little of this as possible with as little disruption as possible. And when I do it, I'm gonna have to do it to a Compaq Presario desktop and two Dell Inspiron laptops.

So... anyone notice any problems surfacing with SP3?

How long did the patch take from the moment you clicked the "Install" button? I ask this because my hard drive started thrashing enthusiastically to establish driver lists and Restore points and other "ruh-roh" precautions that didn't exactly instill me with confidence in the confidence of the SP3 programming team.

As a sidebar, I'm going to install Firefox 3 on one of the laptops and start playing with it. (Spouse has finally retired from the Navy Reserve and its [-]Borg Collective[/-] mandatory OS/software standards, so now I have the incentive to play around a little.) I'll probably get around to FF3 after installing the SP3 patch. If I'm happy with FF3 (and by "happy" I mean "spouse & kid can adapt to it without a lot of my tech support") then I'll do it to the rest of our machines. Any speed bumps on FF3 that I should be watching for, particularly with SP3?

I've turned the Mac Mini over to our kid, who just smirks at me when I ask these questions...

 

[Leonidas]

Never heard of SP3. The Evil Empire has this on their IT Professionals webpage.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) is now available for download and install via Windows Update and the Microsoft Download Center. Windows XP SP3 includes all previously released updates for the operating system, in addition to a small number of new updates. Windows XP SP3 will not significantly change the Windows XP experience.

Installation media and documentation on disc for Windows XP SP3 may sometimes refer to Windows XP SP2. Windows XP SP2 installation guide instructions apply to Windows XP SP3.

My question is, if I have SP2 and have installed all the updates, is there anything in SP3 that I need?

As for FF3, somebody downloaded it on the family laptop a while back and we've had no problems. The Princess and youngest son, neither of whom are computer geeks by any stretch, have had no problems with it. I'm happy with the older version and have been hitting the "install later" button because I don't want to fool with it just now.

 

[Achiever51]

Can't comment on SP3 as our new computer has Vista -- which is ok, but not great*. As for FF3, we downloaded it as we were setting up the new desktop and it's been terrific. No problems at all.

*I predict a class action suit in the offing actually. Vista has a predilection to really screwing up the wireless connection to the network whenever you send the computer to sleep mode. Spent hours and hours trying to correct the problem to no avail. Googled the problem and found nearly 2.6 million posts!

 

[IBWino]

I've updated both our desktop and laptop computers with XP SP3 and haven't had any issues. As I recall, it took a couple of hours to download, create the restore point and install, and everything went perfectly smooth. The laptop is seven years old and a bit sluggish by today's standards, and I did notice some modest improvements in its responsiveness.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

My question is, if I have SP2 and have installed all the updates, is there anything in SP3 that I need?

Windows XP - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pretty much covers the new goodies. A few things brought over from vista.

~10% or more performance improvement in some applications.

I put it on our XP desktop a couple of days ago. No immediate ill effects. But I didnt do much with it afterwards.

 

[Goonie]

I can't offer anything about SP3, as I'm running SP2 and will continue since everything is running smoothly And I don't want to goof that up.

As for FF3, I love it! It operates about the same as IE, so the learning curve is very gentle! I've been using FF for several years and have been thoroughly pleased with it. I just upgraded to FF3 last week from FF2, and except for slightly slicker looking graphics, it works just the same as the previous version. It should be a fairly easy transition from IE to FF3 for everyone.

 

[Khan]

I installed FF3, and a bit later XP3; haven't noticed any but very minor weirdnesses.

 

[Buckeye]

I tried to connect to the Citrix server at work but no dice. I have emailed our tech support to determine whether SP3 is the problem. I installed it a couple of days ago.

 

[FIREd]

My computer started to bug me about downloading SP3 last week. I finally downloaded it on Saturday and so far no problems to report, I can't see any difference at all from prior to the update. It took quite a while to download and install, don't remember exactly how long...

 

[Life_is_Good]

Problem here

After downloading and installing SP3, my Linksys wireless card started causing XP to crash and blue screen. I tried reinstalling the Linksys drivers and looking for Linksys updates - no luck.

I took the less painful route of connecting via ethernet cable (same room as router).

Anyway, thanks to SP3, my wireless adapter is sitting in a drawer gathering dust! BTW... no more crashes!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

google 'linksys xp sp3'. Seems there are several threads discussing possible solutions, depending on what kind of linksys card you have.

 

[joesxm3]

I do not remember how long it takes, but I have installed SP3 on several computers at home and at work without any problems.

 

[2good]

The service pack 3 installation on my laptop took about 45 minutes. I do not know the download time since it downloads in the background.

I have it installed since 2 weeks and did not encounter any issues. Wireless connection is as good as before. I did not notice any improvements either.

 

[Nords]

Well, if there was a strong vein of discontent then I'd have tapped into it by now. Earlier updates have never shown this level of concern and foresight about backups & drivers, and I was sure that could only be a bad thing.

I guess I'll install it this week when I have a couple spare hours-- ha!

I should mention that I'll be going to Firefox 3 from IE 6...

 

[Leonidas]

I should mention that I'll be going to Firefox 3 from IE 6...

Man, you're really looking for some abuse aren't you? That's like saying "I'm finally trading in my old '85 Yugo for a Lexus".

 

[OAG]

XP with SP3 I have not seen any problems although since I installed it (along with FF2 then 3 and Thunderbird (email)) I have moved to Vista SP1. I gave the old XP computer to my Grandson and he has been using if without any problems for about 4 months now.

As I remember it the XP SP3 took about 30 minutes to install. (as does SP1 on VISTA).

If you have multiple computers with XP or VISTA you want to look into using a FF addon called "FOXMARKS". This little addon will allow you to sync your book marks between multiple computers. If you use Thunderbird for email it will offer to bring in your email address books also - which is a nice touch.

 

[Khan]

XP with SP3 I have not seen any problems although since I installed it (along with FF2 then 3 and Thunderbird (email)) I have moved to Vista SP1. I gave the old XP computer to my Grandson and he has been using if without any problems for about 4 months now.

As I remember it the XP SP3 took about 30 minutes to install. (as does SP1 on VISTA).

If you have multiple computers with XP or VISTA you want to look into using a FF addon called "FOXMARKS". This little addon will allow you to sync your book marks between multiple computers. If you use Thunderbird for email it will offer to bring in your email address books also - which is a nice touch.

Foxmarks is a dandy little tool.

 

[BigBob]

So... anyone notice any problems surfacing with SP3?

The only problem I had with SP3 was with Adobe Acrobat Reader. I believe there is an update to the Reader as part of SP3 that conflicted with the version I had installed prior to SP3. The result was a web page requiring Acrobat Reader said that the version was not the latest...and click here to install the latest. I did that several times (trying rebooting, etc.) without any success, just ...click here to install the latest.
I tried uninstalling Acrobat and installing the latest. Same deal.
Finally, I found a blog about this issue, and downloaded an .EXE, ran it with some parameter "/Clean" or something that removed Acrobat completely. The next install worked and I have not had any problems since.
If anyone else has this problem, I could find the link without much problem.

..Bob

 

[popowich]

I have not had any problems with FF3 on any computers.

I have SP3 at home but did not install it, the automated updates must have done it.

I had the pleasure of watching it install itself on a computer with 128MB memory this past week.

That computer was down almost the entire day.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Yeah, XP wont run very well in 128MB. Ram is so dang cheap these days.

Do note that SP3 requires a new validation agent to be installed, and none of my XP machines did that on their own. I had to open IE and run windows update, agree to the new validation agent, then SP3 self installed.

 

[Nords]

Yeah, XP wont run very well in 128MB. Ram is so dang cheap these days.

Darn, now you're making me wonder if my FIL ever upgraded from Win98. His RAM chips were so old I almost brittle-fractured one.

Do note that SP3 requires a new validation agent to be installed, and none of my XP machines did that on their own. I had to open IE and run windows update, agree to the new validation agent, then SP3 self installed.

Apparently I got through that OK and was into the actual "driver database" part of the process before I decided that I had better things to do with my time on a Saturday night. I think I have to go to the Microsoft website to restart the process anyway.

After I finish all my Adobe Acrobat reading...

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I didnt have any trouble with acrobat on any of the machines I did this on, so that sounds like a YMMV thing.

 

[BigMoneyJim]

I couldn't find any guidance about installing SP3 on my company machines which is a far cry from what happened with SP2, but SP2 had some pretty major changes. SP3 has new features, so I was also confused about the dangers of upgrading. I ran it on my home machine for a couple of weeks with no trouble then finally put it on my work laptop.

Come to think of it, I have had some odd crashes on my laptop lately, and Outlook 2003 keeps closing itself. I'm not sure if that started before or after SP3, but I have had no problems with Citrix, networking, Acrobat Reader or anything besides what I mentioned earlier.

As far as validation, I think you can still get around that by going to Windows Update Catalog and downloading it. From Windows Update, choose "Use administrator options" on the left, then Windows Update Catalog on the right...wow, they've changed the look of it. Anyway, it's designed for network admins to download the updates and apply them to multiple computers to avoid having to repeatedly download the updates from each computer. You can get service packs and other updates for various Windows versions here without validation checking last time I checked. I usually use it for service pack releases since they're so big and I apply them to a few PCs and like to have them around for future installs.

 

[Buckeye]

The problem I thought could be related to SP3 in trying to attach to work servers using Citrix was actually a problem at work. No issues with SP3.

 

[Nords]

Well, I decided SP3's not worth the potential hassle.

It turns out that Compaq Presarios with AMD chips have a small glitch that causes multiple reboots after installing SP3. HP obligingly put out a patch that I downloaded and ran.

Except that the patch claimed my system didn't meet the requirements for needing the patch. And googling the patch's error message popped up a whole page of complaints from people who'd still had problems with SP3 after installing the patch (despite the error message). HP has been a tad nonresponsive to these concerns.

Faced with the fun of installing SP3 and then dealing with restore points, I decided that I'd rather have a life.

But SP3 went fine on our Dell laptop. And if our kid wants to use her Dell laptop on the road then she can install her own copy of SP3.