If you don't have Windows XP SP3, you may want to wait a while longer, especially if your system sports an AMD processor.
I'd like to extend a nice big F-U to Microsoft for releasing yet another product that's screwing up my computer (pardon my French). Windows XP SP3 has been out for a few months and I haven't heard about the world coming crashing down as a result, so I figured it might be safe to install. HA! I should have known the clowns in Redmond wouldn't be able to get this right.…
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26 - Bop
Sounds like your SP3 download was corrupted or you had a conflict with Norton 2003, perhaps.
I've installed SP3 on 5 AMD Athlon computers including 3 HPs (2 laptops) and had no problems. I have noticed however the network lag is horrid, all programs have slowed down including the search feature; on one program it takes up to a minute just to close and then reopen it so I just narrow it now. When I open a folder for the first time on the network it just freezes for 10 to 15 seconds on any computer I'm working on. Someone told me they installed SP3 on another computer and had the same problems with the network. Granted all computers are at least a couple years old but come on.
BTW Vista really is a joke (unless you get the most expensive vs) -- call it Windows ME(Squared) -- Windows System 7 is coming so if you can hold off another 2 to 3 years till SP2 of that comes out, do it.
To further my argument that Vista is a joke, new inexpensive laptops called Netbooks (which don't even come with 56k modems or DVD drives) put out by Asus (EPC1000HD $375 at Best Buy) and Acer (Aspire-1 $350) have Windows XP SP3 preinstalled on them -- not vista, and guess what -- network lags (especially with searching) are the same even with them -- worse actually since they have less than a 1GHz Intel processor (and this is with 2GB of Ram in the Asus which I bought (both computer and ram) from Best Buy (didn't like the Acer because there is no way to take the HD/Ram out and it didn't come with any recovery software (Asus actually had a recovery DVD and it's quick)).....
Get rid of Norton 2003 and your computer will speed up ... that may have been the problem -- norton 2003 conflicting with the SP3 install, perhaps?
For a free antivirus which seems to do the job AVG
For a free firewall (I don't trust the antivirus on comodo yet):
Comodo and then a free program to clean the registry: Ccleaner.
Also to avoid computer mishaps in the future, I've found a $50 program called Paragon Hard Disk Manager 2008 suite, which fully backs-up (and partitions) my HD and fully restores from a bootup CD (created from an iso image which is separate from the install program) and I made sure by putting in a test HD and doing a full restore (and it works on HP unlike Acronis which crashed my 3 HPs when restoring to a test HD). This will save you a lot of time and hassle in the future and guess what -- no activation or registration required for this unlike other programs, so it's well worth the $50.
27 - Mark Buckingham
Thanks, a lot of good info there. You're not the first (and surely won't be the last) person I know to call Vista "ME redux." I plan on avoiding it at least till Win7 comes out, as you suggested.
I use VMWare on my computers to host virtual machines, and I really need to start using those safe test environments more than I already do. My understanding is that if I install AVG to test in a VM and deliberately give it a virus to see if it'll catch and dispose of it, the host system should remain unaffected by the infection within the VM. Any inklings as to the factuality behind that?
28 - Jet
Mark the difference seems to be I'm using a desktop tower (e-machines) that I bought in 2003 and you're using a laptop.
I don't know if laptops need different software or not, I've never owned one.
I think in the last five years it only crashed once, but recovered nicely.
A suggestion, use the XP compatibility wizard to check on any software you might be having trouble with. Believe or not, I'm using a 1995 version of ClarisWorks for my financial spreadsheet that was giving me fits until I used the compatibility wizard on it. Now that it running in Compatiblity Mode, I've no trouble at all.
You click, it asks what versios of Windows software it ran on, I clicked win95, it confirmed it and it's been smooth sailing ever since.
29 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Jet,
Just an FYI - Modern Laptops & Desktops can run the same software & operating systems.Unless one OS is Linux and the other is Windows, but, that's becoming less of an issue from what I hear. Brand has nothing to do with it...
Personally, SP3 is a waste of time except,supposedly, for IT people & home netwokers.
I'm still using XP SP2 and don't see a need to upgrade. When I do upgrade it won't be to Windows 7, more likely Linux. I'm sick of Microsoft and their over-priced, buggy craptastic software.
30 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
*Heads Up*
Microsoft will be offering freeConsumer Security Suite:
The Redmond, Wash., company said it plans to introduce its security software, code-named Morro, during the second half of next year in an effort to persuade more users to secure their PCs against spyware, viruses and other forms of “malware.”
31 - Steve
What a great group, I have a Medion P4 running XP and recently went through the fun and pleasure of installing 'SP3' getting the 'could not complete install etc' went online and found how to fix it and with the help of my Computer Expert Brother In Law was able to get the beast to work. Great, one happy little vegiemit, but then the beast attacked, my home network would not see any other PC, then it would, then not. Then I thought it's about time to back up things to my USB drive "My Book" - wrong Steve - I get "USB Device Not Recognized, one of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and windows does not recognize it" msg, so I try a USB stick and the same error msg. I checked the devices on my wifes Dell running XP & SP3 no problems. I've uninstalled the USB drives and let xp find and reinstall them on boot up but still the same error. I'm at the stage of getting out the original XP cd and SP2 cd and doing a fresh install and to hell with SP3. "B-I-L" has suggested uninstalling any updates since SP3 then uninstall SP3, anybody else tried this or had this USB problem.
32 - Mark Buckingham
Hi Steve. Can't say I've had the USB problems, as I was never able to get SP3 to fully take. I've heard of a number of potential causes for it not to install, from having an AMD processor to not disabling all your security software prior to running the SP3 installer.
As an aside, isn't it pathetic that viruses and trojans can get system-level access to lock you out of the programs designed to prevent them? What's the point of said security software if the malware can burrow right past it, and the programs designed to protect you are stuck sitting there twiddling their thumbs, unable to stop anything? /end rant
If I ever mess with SP3 again, it'll be with a version of XP with it already on it; no more of this patching/updating nonsense that breaks a machine. There are all sorts of versions of XP floating around out there on the internet, with service packs pre-installed and other bloatware stripped out. Since Microsoft doesn't want to support XP anymore, the users have taken the reins and done it for them...not unlike how Linux is all user-supported. Hmm, interesting.
33 - Steve
Mark, problem solved, 3 Simple Steps.
1. Unplug the power cord from PC.
2. Push on button on PC for about 30 sec's, to drain any residue power on Motherboard.
3. Wait 15 min's and power up again.
Yippeeeeee, all my USB ports work again.
I actually found the way to repair it when reinstalling XP & the SP's. One moment my ports were there then gone, except on one of the many reboots you have to do I noticed a comment come up saying "installing USB host" or words like that so I went into Device Manager and noticed I now had "SIS PCI to USB Enhanced Host Controller" which I had not noticed before so I disabled it and when I plugged in the USB Stick it worked but only at USB 1 speed. I did a search on Google on my old PC for the SIS etc and found a blog site where the gentleman had the same problem and he was told to do the above by Microsoft Help people. Sounds silly but it has worked, only wished I had found the site before I started to reinstall XP and all my software. At least it is keeping me out from under my wifes' feet and out of the rain.
34 - Jet
I'd do a disc clean up before proceeding with that, you'll get better results...
35 - Mark Buckingham
Steve, I might have to try that for another reason. For as long as I can remember, I've had an "Unknown Device" showing up under my connected USB devices, and for the life of me, I can't figure out what it is. I can ID everything individually, and everything I know of shows up, so I'm puzzled.
I also had a problem where my tower's front USB ports had this magical ability to render perfectly working gizmos to "Unknown Device" status, though they worked perfectly fine before plugging them into that, and wouldn't work at all in other ports after being plugged into those. Needless to say, I disconnected those ports from the mobo and called it good. No sense fragging anymore of my peripherals over a couple defective ports.
36 - ted in pdx
I've been enduring Microsoft for about 30 years now. First let me tell you, while I understand the sarcasm, it's only about stage-2 in the acquiring the discipline necessary to survive and thrive in spite of this pernicious monopoly of desktop computing. (Stage-1 is the belief that if you provide sufficient documentation and insight into the nature of a problem, they'll respect you for it, and try to help.) That said, I will confess, that from time to time I still succumb to the temptation to get angry and sarcastic, just as I did about 5 minutes ago when I agreed to send them an e-mail support request using their latest service predicated on the notion that their customers should not only tolerate their defective software, they should pay for the privilege of having the defects explained to them, in the hope that some cybernetic humanoid in either Redmond or Mumbai will provide a work-around. (Of course an actual fix would be out of the question.)
The bad news is this: Back in 1996, after failing to meet their target release date for Windows 95, Microsoft learned that their customers would tolerate and install any new release of their software which fixed critical problems in the previous version, even if the new version introduced an entirely new cast of defects. They also learned that by treating new releases as elective upgrades to a 'BETA' version (meaning, we know this has bugs, but if you really want to try it out, we'll send it to you...), they could obviate the traditional notion that the manufacturer of a product had an obligation, at least, to repair obvious defects in something resembling a timely matter.
In the last 10 years or so, they dropped the charade of calling their new releases 'BETA', and just adopted a general policy of releasing whatever they want, and fixing whatever problems they want, or just ignoring the problems entirely.
This is, in fact, their deliberate strategy. By leaving defects rather than fixing them, they create a development environment which his hostile to competitors, and creates dependency amongst their 'customer base'. Of course their customers are really not customers at all, we are incidental beneficiaries of the monopoly Microsoft holds over hardware manufacturers, who are required to "make standard" whatever version upgrade or new OS product release Microsoft chooses to offer.
The good news? With Windows Vista, they may have overplayed their hand. Two major forces are working inexorably to dismantle Microsoft's hegemony over desktop computing: network based interoperability (using open-source applications) has made it practical for non-Windows based desktops to collaborate reasonably well with Microsoft's relentless (but mostly unsuccessful) attempts to establish new proprietary desktop applications. Second, virtual computing based on hardware optimized virtual containers all but guarantees the demise of Microsoft's proprietary and predatory business model.
I try to remember that whenever I find steam coming out of my ears over the latest inexcusable defect, or deliberate manipulation of 'their standard desktop'. And I thoroughly enjoy watching Google kick them around as well. We live in a world where we still have to tolerate Microsoft for the moment, but we no longer have to rely upon them for anything. That is great progress.
37 - Mark Buckingham
Thanks Ted, and you make some good points. Microsoft's products did serve as a sort of pre-school where many developers learned what they wanted and what not to do, and provided tools that got them to the point where they could make their own better version (and usually make a free or open-source version of it). I can't say I'm going to miss Microsoft when they inevitably fail (Vista didn't help, and gave competitors room to grow with its ineptitude), and if Linux already had some kind of native DirectX support -- or if game developers would switch to something non-platform-specific -- I'd already be using Ubuntu or something else for most things. Still, the way the community has taken XP and started basically making customized distros of it for everyone to use (usually with the bugs fixed or removed...ones MS said couldn't be dealt with) makes me think XP has sort of become open source on its own, whether MS likes it or not.
38 - jim east
I have a client we scubbed 15 workstation reloaded windows sp1 upgraded to sp3 xp pro. Exactly 90 days after doing this 12 services were being shutdown multiple times during the day on all 15 workstations which took them off the network. Tried everything then removed sp3 and all works fine now.
Looks like MS put some timer that disable the system if it doesn't meet there requirements. Also found out that SP1 keys don't pass the WGA test.
39 - Jet
I'm running a 6-year-old e-machines computer with XP and SP3 and haven't had a single problem with it. Maybe it's the version of XP you have like "office" or "pro".
I've got the home version that came with the machine and it just trucks along as happy as a lark.
About the only disappointment I had was that SP3 apparently didn't come with any games, but Windows Defender software was completely worth it.