A Long Awaited Waste of Time (Or Why I Wont Install SP3)

So... To get the SP3 Installed is a great thing they say...More Security they Say... I Say Bollocks SP 3 is a complete waste of time that Microsoft kept us waiting for,and delivered nothing but crap and problems

1: Increased shutdown delay or Shutdown or Reboot
2: Increased Startup delay ( Seen when waiting for welcome screen to Close)
3: Increased Startup delay of several Windows Taskbar functions,and Startup programs)
4: Probelms using programs after Uninstallation (Non functionality due to being installed while SP3 was present)

All this and probably more that I havent encountered but others have.

*Hint* To uninstall SP3 do NOT! use Add/Remove programs, instead use System restore, Also after uninstallation manually delete the 70+ $NtUninstall folders you will find in the Windows directory by double clicking my computer and click Tools/Folder Options/View/Show hiden files and folders. There will be over 70+ folders in blue, you need to delete these manually as they contain 1000's of reg files and folders related to SP3, also this process will clean up around 500MB.

SP3 Wont be seeing the light of day on any of my machines again, I much more prefer the speed of SP2c.

 

If you do not install SP3, how can you block it from future update alerts and thanks.

Gary

 

Imaging is the way to go ! System Restore is a feeble one,don't trust it.

 

I suppose this SP3 will be the final service pack for Windows NT systems like XP etc?

From the looks of things from SP3 complaints, Microsoft still suffers from some of the same engineering problems as they did back on Windows 98.

Agree with Huupi though, i would do a full image BEFORE testing SP3 to ensure a clean reliable return.

 

I could not agree more, slowed my boot up time by quite a lot and very slow to load my programmes as well on boot up.
Once I removed sp3 and cleaned everything out all is back to normal, will be staying with sp2 and all other updates, no more sp3 on my machine dont need it anyway.

The Mul

 

SP3 has been no problem on my computers and now Windows Explorer seems snappier. I imaged my computers before the install of course but I'll be keeping SP3.

 

SP3 is working great for me.

Sorry to hear it went badly for you.

 

Thanks for that tip, ronjor!

Working flawlessly for me too and why shouldnt it-its basically SP2 plus a few updates!

Really nothing to get into a lather about one way or the other.

However wouldnt agree at all about anything working faster.

edit; I see this free support seems to be only for installation and compatibility problems for Service Pack 3 (SP3).,not general issues.

 

Theres always that option, but for the ones who dont have these programs, System Restore is the logical choice

 

when it alerts you that download is ready to install, click the icon in your tray,
when the window pops up there should be a custom install button, select that then press next.

When the next window comes about, un-check the update you do not want and then cancel or close (I cant remember for sure which one) it should then give the option of not notifying you of that download any more, select that option and finish.

You will not have to worry about it any more.

 

XP3 working flawlessly here. Downloaded the installer package and manually installed it. No problems at all, and if anything, it's faster than it was. Shutdown time remains the same, but I already had it set to clear the page file at shutdown, which I suspect may be the reason for reported slow shutdowns. Takes an extra 90 seconds or so.

To huntnyc, select the update from the yellow shield icon. Deselect the tickbox. At some stage/location a dialogue box will appear saying "don't ask me about this update again". Select it. Close windows update.
Once you've done that, I don't know if it wll have an effect on future updates unrelated to SP3, though. It seems possible to me that some future updates may possibly need SP3 installed to work. Don't really know, though.

 

Same here!

 

I'll take a 3rd party fix over another SP any day.........

Ever since U.S.'s bad happenings in the past and present I strongly question the stuff they try to push to the general public.....

 

The ruling O/S vendor don't dare admit their shortcomings, but you spoke the absolute truth on this.

Some of us walk a straight line with clear eyes and the evidence is undeniable.

 

SP3 OK here. I deleted all the old obsolete files from the registry after I installed SP3, and I see that bootup and shut down take the same time as usual. Some tasks are noticably faster.

 

No probs here. On an old p2.4 it used to take 1 min 8 sec to reboot. now it takes 1 min 1 sec. I think cleaning out some of the old stuff has helped speed things up a bit. Certainly no problems and not slower.

 

One positive benefit of installing SP3 is that I have increased Free Space in my C: drive. 20 MB in one computer and 130MB in another. That is after deleting the two unnecessary SP3 folders.

 

No slowdowns here. The computer feels slightly faster, but it could be psychological.

 

I have had SP3 running for a few days and can verify that boot up is definitely noticably faster, as well as shut down. After installation I deleted a load of old files from 2002 to the present via Reg Supreme Pro, that SP3 replaced. I still haven't found any glitches.(yet)

 

You can't pin these problems on SP3. All SP3 is a collection of SP2 updates in one. If your system unstable or poor with SP3 you got to look at other issues with your PC.

 

SP3 does have a few extras like win2008 domain support, also the issue could be with the installer, I suspect this as a slipstreamed version of XP does not have as many issues.

 

yes that's by the by, how will 2008 domain support slow down your PC. see? those few extra's dont give a drop on performance. there is nothing complex here SP3 is a bundle SP2 and a few fixes for upcoming software. it superficial saying it reduces the performance. if anything more updates on your PC does reduce performance as it installs more into your Windows folder but this is nothing, on the same scale certain updates have speeded up default Windows. If it drops your PC down so much then i would question your overall PC speed and speed of your hard drive and RAM and how you optimize XP. If it causes some a major slowdown and break your system you got to see something else is not right with your system. I have had no issue with SP3. I got the same stability performance i had with SP2. I would tweak your system more if you going to pin it on SP3. If anything it makes it faster. I'm sure if i looked at your PC i could find things to make it go faster without updating the hardware.

 

SP3 running without any drama's on this box.

Gerard