I am thinking of downloading Service Pack 3 to be able to subscribe to a cable service that allows you to link your PC and your TV.

After being able to get along well on Service Pack 2 for quite a few years I was wondering if anyone knows of any problems that may still be associated with SP3.

Thanks for any info, Hank.

I never made the move, but I also never saw any super serious issues with it that would give you headache. Much depends on your peripherals, if they are newer or older, and maybe if you play legacy games... SP3 turns up some security stuff I think.

I had SP3 and there was really NP associated with the move for me.. I beleive it does some security updates and some minor stuff nothing really major change wise..

Not a problem at all here. Also, FWIW, if you have or plan to get any Games for Windows Live games, the latest client appears to require SP3 on XP systems.

Thanks for the help...I will give it a try and have set a restore date if things go wrong.

You're far better off with the service pack than without. I wouldn't give it a second thought.

As a former XP user, I upgraded to SP3 and had no problems with it.

The only problem I had with SP3 is my Dell D630 Laptop Wifi drivers don't work with SP3. It sees the device but will not connect.

Thanks for the help.

The upgrade to SP3 went well after I finally ignored MSFT's repeated warnings that I must pay for past sins and d/l all the upgrades I had decided not to d/l over the past few years.

I tried to comply with the slap on the wrist but the list was too long and under pain of eternal damnation I just let SP3 download at an early hour after changing my security setting to allow upgrades to be d/led without my permission. I have to assume all of the missing upgrades would be covered in SP3 so why ask me to d/l them before upgrading to the latest Service Pack...Mind games?

Hi HankMC,

I've upgraded 3 machines without problems, and you need it to even get into Windows update. The updates do take a long time, each time you update it seems the update needs an update, but you do eventually get to the point where it's all current. It's especially important right now. MS released an update a couple of days back, somebody apparently hacked a Dutch Certificate Authority, Diginotar, and that gives him the ability to generate false but apparently valid certificates for websites, drivers, etc. He also claimed that he's gotten into GlobalSign and was even claiming that he could impersonate Windows Update itself, though that seems to not be possible. MS issued an update 2 days ago or so that invalidated the Dutch CA entirely, knocked most of the Dutch government offline in the process, and they'll invalidate any other CAs he might he might get into as time goes along. It's a bad time to not be current, and you can't even get into Windows Update with XP anymore without SP3.

Best regards,

- Bob

The StickWorks
http://www.stickworks.com