Service pack 3 ready for download....huge file...anyone downloaded it yet?

[madfloridian]

I thought they were working out bugs in it, but it was ready for me to download today. I am just ignoring it for now until someone else tries it first.

I would like to get it on CD like I did Service Pack 2. But I don't see an option.

[lpbk2713]

1. I'm not going to be in any hurry.

I want to hear a good consensus before I let the Gnomes of Redmond
tinker around with my PC any more than they already have.

[madfloridian]

2. It says from 66 to 316 mg download.

And it doesn't tell you how much until you start the download.

[CountAllVotes]

16. just turned off "automatic updates" for Windows

Luckily, it hasn't gone in to snag it yet. I'm with you. If this old system has to keep being rebooted, I'll be really sick. I'll wait and see too.

[Jazzgirl]

3. I installed the beta with no problems.

After I got home from a two week business trip last week, I installed the final on my laptop and haven't had a bit of problems. No slow downs or anything. Works great. Go for it. In fact my main computer power supply died as soon as I turned it on after I got home. Had it not been for the laptop I would've been up a creek. SP3 is just fine.

[Gore1FL]

4. I have RC 1 now.

I can see a speed improvement with it. I'll have to uninstall it to get the update I think, but look forward to doing so.

[trotsky]

5. Have downloaded it and installed on about a dozen machines.

Not a single problem found (yet). The CD option will probably be there soon, if you want to go that route.

[madfloridian]

7. On a computer help mailing list today...

two people said they had trouble getting the computer to start after the install. I think I will wait a while.

[trotsky]

8. Totally your call.

It's not like SP3 contains any incredible new features or crucial security updates. As long as you are current on your Windows Updates you're virtually running it already. From my perspective as an IT guy, this saves me from having to install over 100 individual XP updates on top of an XP SP2 install, so I'm loving it. 'Bout time!

[BlueJazz]

6. I don't plan to install it. Just not worth the effort plus it adds more...

.."Windows activation" crap.

PC mag said it's worthless....

[madokie]

9. Yes I have

just now I installed in over sp3 rc1 with no problems. Also I installed ie8 beta and its looking good and so far working good. On my connection it took an hour and a half to download but it all came off without a hitch.

I installed sp3 rc1 when it first came out last dec and then later I removed the uninstall for it so I couldn't install sp3 rc2 when it came out and was worried about not being able to install sp3 when it finally came out but it wasn't a problem, only problem was a lot of worrying on my part for nothing.

[JPettus]

10. The one downside I have read

Is that you are locked into IE 7 if you install it. Part of the SP patches are specific to IE 7 and if you try to uninstall IE 7 after installing the SP, you will find that option grayed out. The only option you will have is uninstalling the SP.

So, if you are already on IE 7 and comfortable with it, then no problem. If you find you have to work with some plugins that don't have a working alternative for you on IE 7, you may want to pass on SP3 for a bit longer.

[charlie]

11. Uninstall IE7 first

If you're a page wrangler or somesuch and need IE6 for testing, downgrade to IE6 then install the service pack. If you upgrade to IE7 after, you'll be able to revert back to IE6.

[madfloridian]

12. Just found this...continuous reboots plague XP SP3 users

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2302371,00.asp

"What are doing this weekend? How about watching your PC continually reboot? That's what some aggravated Windows XP users have been doing Friday after installing the XP service pack 3 (SP3).

The problem appears to primarily affect AMD-based computers, though there are also some cases in which Intel-based machines will also run into trouble, Jesper Johansson, a former program manager for security policy at Microsoft who now runs a Windows-related blog, wrote in a recent post.

Microsoft was scheduled to release the XP SP3 download on April 29, but a "compatibility issue" delayed it until May 7. Mention of the reboot problem first popped up on the Microsoft forums on April 23, prompting some to speculate that the poster's problem was due to an outdated version of SP3, but users who installed the final version soon reported the same issue.

"At this point, I want to clarify that the endless rebooting is not at all related to SP3 per se," Johansson wrote. "The problem is that with some configurations, SP3 causes the computer to crash during boot, and Windows XP, by default, is set up to automatically reboot when it crashes. That is why you end up in the endless rebooting scenario."

Johansson offers a detailed work around on his blog.

Microsoft did not have any immediate comment, but a spokeswoman said she would look into the problem."

[lpbk2713]

13. Thanks for the info ...

Like I said before, I'm not in any hurry. Been there, done that.

:thumbsup: :hi: :thumbsup:

[madfloridian]

14. Another article about the endless reboots.

http://www.computerworld.com:80/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9084418

But one person on my mailing list is not AMD powered and has the problem. :shrug:

[madfloridian]

15. At the Windows Update site...unless you install it you can't get more updates

So that's a real problem.

[hunter]

17. Yet another article...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/12/windows_xp_sp3_reboots_amd

It seems making a CD from the .iso is the best route to take.

[CK_John]

18. I found that I had to disable protection for SpywareBlaster in order to download using IE website

vs automatic method. Almost forgot to re-enable anti-spyware after install. Took about 3 1/2 hours using dialup.

[ChromeFoundry]

19. I've been running SP3 RC2 for over a month...

I upgraded to the Release Candidate the first day it was out. Installed without a hitch. I have noticed a 10-15% performance increase. If you would like to speed up your download, you may want to look into a download manager that will aggregate the download across multiple servers (assuming you are on a broadband connection). IE7Pro is a plug-in that is free.

Here is the direct link to the download:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/3/0/d30e32d8-418a-469d-b600-f32ce3edf42d/WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU.exe