Discussion on:

Windows XP service pack 3 provides network access protection

I am not that up to speed with the service pack are there any other fixes/improvements that we should be aware of?

Here is a full readme of the SP 3 for XP. The most significant change is MS-NAP:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=68C48DAD-BC34-40BE-8D85-6BB4F56F5110&displaylang=en

I installed SP3 on this computer and lots of programs locked up or would not run.

So I then uninstalled it but only marginal improvement. So lots of searching to delete the files that were installed but not uninstalled and some manual registry edits.

I am not impressed.

This was a mess. It nearly locked up alot of computer functionalities. For instance just logging over to different users took 5-10 minutes. I don't remember the other problems I immediately noticed, but there were others. I didn't even get into testing other areas. I didn't uninstall it, I reverted the hard drive, and then did a defrag. I highly suggest this procedure to get rid of this beast. When it is finally released, I will be standoffish for a good month.

Same here, i have installed SP3, n lot of programs just stopped working, my computer is freezing sometimes as well, i meant a complete freezing so the only way to recover from it is to just restart it, i have installed the same games on my other machine where SP2 is installed, the games worked fine when i did the update to SP3, the games stopped working, i tried to work arround it by editing the registry, uninstalling the games, then install them again, but it didn't work! any help.....!!!!!!

to help you with your update problems. Just go to the Microsoft Support site and enter your PID and if your OS is supported it will redirect you to free support links(chat at least) but I have had them call me as well.

I've received top notch help through them so far. But I must admit is is a little too often.

There is NO way I will be installling XP SP3 onto my small buainess systems.

I am of the view that MS will have embedded some of VISTA'a interfaces and code, hence I will NOT be going there untill proven wrong (time will tell)

We all have a bad taste in our mouth from XP SP2. Funny thing is, that XP SP3 is not the earth-shattering change - but Vista SP1 is!

All that said, this emphasizes the need for test environments. Even if you do not have immediate plans to implement MS-NAP, XP SP3 in principle is a good idea - you just need to see if you will have problems and identify any issues.

Needless to say, I'll be waiting quite awhile to see where the dust settles before committing clients to this.

Apart from NAP it includes updates to IPv6 i believe and also Black-Hole Router Detection and protection against those devices.

It also includes all performance/security updates to xp to date.

Personally I've found it to be slightly better, response and performance wise sp2, so I'm quite happy.

just the .NET Framework update that downloaded just a few weeks ago!

I'm waiting for the release candidate before I order the CD.

SP2 became a requisite for use of Microsoft Update. will it be the same way with SP3?

After all the networking problems caused by XP SP2, I can only see things getting mucked-up a bit again. Why? Is the question that comes to my mind. I just don't see (either from the above grafic, or the MS site) how this will do anything different from what we already have. I guess we have to wait and see, again. (we could be real busy afterward) -d

I remember the issues when SP2 came out. We didn't upgrade for a couple of years! Now I'm setting up a new Windows SQL server to replace my old Netware....I really am just afraid to jump into SP3.

This is why, as IT professionals, we must do extensive testing with all updates, software, OSes, etc. before deploying them into our production environment. I too remember the issues with SP2, but I also remember doing testing with the service pack in a test environment before deploying to minimize the impact on the end user.

The key is to remember that most changes are done with the best of intentions (security, end user productivity, ease of use, etc.). Yes, they can be a pain to get used to and implement, but most great innovations had some issues when they were first released.

As a non professional IT person I appreciate the work and information you folks provide on a site like this. Normally I would adopt things like SP3 as soon as it is available. This time I think I will heed the advise of those who are wiser and of more knowledge than me. Thanks.

We've been running RC2 of SP3 in our accounting and ITS department (about 20 machines) and we've had no issues what so ever, i sometimes find it's even better. Unfortunately we are still running server 2003 so NAP won't be coming online until we migrate to 2008 (mid-year).

I, too, have been running it for a few weeks and have not had any issues. Much less earth-shattering that SP2!

At my job we haven't placed SP3 in production yet, although I am pretty sure it will be coming down the pipe soon. But seriously guys, we go through this every time MS releases service packs. Remember, as long as we all do the proper testing we will be ok. We all know someone isn't going to do it and cause major head aches at their business and make the news, then we can justify our positions that much easier because we can say that we tested it so that wouldn't happen.

"At my job we haven't placed SP3 in production yet"

I'm glad to hear that. I think it is still only a release candidate.

I'm hoping SP3 turns out to be ok. Has anyone run across an XP machine that is at Service Pack 1 lately? Even after running the Service Pack 2 update manually, there are still some 80 + downloads as well as several reboots, etc. Wouldn't it be nice to restore a machine's OS and run just one update?

How so?

Earth shattering in the good way or bad way?

HAVE INSTALLED IT
Note a drastic slowing of the desktop
on deleting it it virully crashed the PC
I am a home user of XP-professional.
i do not understand theat some say it improves the preformance.

It is currently a RC2 which stands for Release Candidate 2 the last step before it is released to the public at large but it's still a beta.

When it gets released as the full SP3 it will most likely be slightly different to how it is now.

Col

nt

But I was just responding to the poster above who is claiming that they have installed SP3 on their Home Computer and it has caused problems.

I was just pointing out that they have installed a Beta Copy of SP3 and their current experiences with a beta is in no way connected to something that is yet to be released.

Well I suppose the current Offering of SP3 is more of a Beta Copy as apposed to the True Beta which M$ call the RTM Copy.

Col

You reminded me the last RC will be a "beta" too! HA!

Or at least a 'piece of work'! =)

I have found a couple of issues with SP3. All of which only occur on factory-built machines ie: HP, Dell, and other big box store specials. One readily available issue is the auto-reboot loop which I have only faced on those factory builds.
I have also installed SP3 on several systems built by myself, pieced together to give my users a little individuality. These systems, as different as each is from the other, are running Win XP SP3 with nary an error. I installed SP3 on my personal machine nearly two months ago and have not had any kind of error with it at all. My games (Crysis, Half Life 2, NFS ProStreet etc) all play without issues. However those prebuilds with add-on graphics have crashed and continue to crash since the update to SP3.

Thanks to the keyboard gnomes for keeping me crash free.

(No thanks to MS, my guess is they have programmed the errors for the easy-to-obtain images found on the recovery partition of pre-built machine) lmbo