Upgrade to Windows XP SP3 - Comments Page 3

My SP3 upgrade went seamlessly, though I did notice (to my annoyance) that it added both a "Show Desktop" and a "Internet Explorer" link to the Quick Launch area of the taskbar (both of which were already present in slightly modified form). I notice that someone has said that it re-installs Windows Messenger -- haven't noticed that one "yea" or "nay"; I'll have to check that sucker out! Thanks for the info.

SP3 installed ok on my Toshiba Equium L20-264. Seems a little slower at times but the experience has been good. IE7 working ok. SP3 took about an hour to download and install but at the moment I have no regrets as of about a week after installation.

Installed the first try and I notice a significant speed enhancement especially on the Internet. Running a Dell with P4 and 2gb ram.On a wireless home network. So far so good!

I tried installing last week. Took about a half hour over my Comcast high speed. Then another 20 minutes or so to "install." I eventually got a error box that said "Access Denied." I closed that, closed the next box without really reading it (dumb move on my part) and then it took another 10-20 minutes to "uninstall" SP3. It said, though, that the re-installed SP2 may not work properly.

I'm running an Intel Celeron-processed Compaq. I haven't tried installing again, which I may. I will probably download the stand-alone installer and run it from that, since I don't want to waste the 20 minutes download time if I have to reinstall again.

Bob, I apologize to one and all. I simply got a 'generic' Error Message, stating that SP3 could not install and would stop installing. I was able to download the whole file, but, about 1/3 to 1/2 into installing, it simply give this 'pop-up' message, without any coding to search it out.

I thought it strange, the first time I got it, but, by the second time, I figured something was 'wrong' with my PC settings, that SP3 didn't like or it could be one of Microsoft's 'hidden' programs, causing the issue? I had disabled all of my known programs, to avoid the common issues.

Oh, even though my PC has an AMD Sempron CPU, it is NOT a HP, which is already known to have big issues with SP3. I built my own PC.

Hi Bob. I initially was not able to download SP3 via MS updates. It turns out that if you are running the IE8 beta (which I was), MS will not let you install SP3. Apparently it would result in a mixed form of the browser, and one of the new caveats is that you will not be able to uninstall whatever version of IE you happen to be running: i.e. if you have IE 7.0, you can no longer uninstall it. Thought you'd like to know

After downloading and installing SP3, I lost my network icon in the Task Tray. I went to Device Manager and it was totally blank, so I had no way of enabling/disabling my NIC card.
I searched the web and found that many others had experienced the same problem. The problem is SP3 adds 100's of bad keys to the registry. On my computer they all started with "$%&". Using regedit and Find, it took 2.5 hours to delete all the bad keys, there was probably over 2000 bad keys. After removing the bad keys I now have my Device Manager repopulated and the Network icon back.

In reading all of the various comments on this site and others, I am honestly beginning to wonder, if, Windows XP SP3 was 'created' for the whole purpose of getting Windows XP users to stop using it and upgrade to Vista?!?

Microsoft really should be aware that many, many PC users have AMD processors, so why didn't they take that into consideration?!? Once again, Microsoft has 'screwed the pooch'.

At this stage, who knows ... I may simply NOT be able to install SP SP3, because I refuse to use Microsoft's Firewall. I have a DSL Router that already has an excellent Firewall, that protects me and my PC. I am 'stealth' on all the first 1056 ports and you can't even 'Ping' my PC, either. Why use Microsoft's 'sickly' Firewall?

I installed SP3 on my AMD machine. I have a OEM version of XP Pro. After installation. i couldn't boot at all. I ultimately had to do a Console Repair. I hope I can prevent it from auto installing. My update is set to automattically notify me of updates, but not to install them.

I have an HP Media Edition XP with the AMD processor. I'm waiting to see what's going on with XP3 and the problems reported by so many others. Is this persistant on *ALL* AMD's? or HP AMD's or ?? Should I shut down my automated updating until I get the word?

EDITOR'S NOTE: If I had an AMD processor, I would put a hold on auto-updates.