Windows XP ver 3, DO NOT upgrade

[wolf]

DO NOT upgrade to Windows XP ver 3

the attempt froze my computer and I had to RECOVER the last version before the upgrade from "Safe mode"  (ANOTHER RUINED SUNDAY)

make sure that Controll center/windows security center/ automatic updates  is turned OFF !!

make sure that Controll Pnael/SYstem/System properties/TAB System resore/ is NOT checked  so that the system resore for all drives is turned ON

also there is another TAB  Automatic Updates make sure you check Notify me but dont automatically download  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

then you just have to turn off your computer once a day and the latest install will be remembered on subsequent turning ON

for you Mac heads: leave your recent Mac's (intel based) ON overnight for it to clean out its system at 2 AM - you have no control over this.

PS  friend of mine bought the $300 for 12 month insurance and support for  PCs from DELL that guarantees a 3 min answer by a US based geek. "well worth the investment".  I bought the same from from HP ( $ 300 for 3 years) and get Indian support which is worthless and frustrating. The Apple purchase support is said to be good too. Support for Ghost from Symantec sucks... and you need it a lot.

no suicide today...  wolf

[Guest jimg]

for you Mac heads: leave your recent Mac's (intel based) ON overnight for it to clean out its system at 2 AM - you have no control over this.

Wolf,

This information is not correct.

Both PPC and Intel Macs running OS X run the daily, weekly and monthly maintenance routines. It's part of the Unix core of OS X. Systems will not wake up from sleep to do them.

You can control this. If you are a OS X gearhead, the routines can be run in the Terminal. Or you can run them with the many system maintenance applications that are available, either paid license applications like Cocktail http://www.maintain.se/ which is $15 for a single user license or the many open source, freeware and shareware utilities like MacJanitor http://personalpages.tds.net/~brian_hill/macjanitor.html The applications all run as a shell for the Terminal.

The MacJanitor page above has a good explanation why and what happens, and why you want to run these routines.

Best regards,

Jim

PS: In thinking about the original post further, wasn't XP Service Pack 3 released back in late April or early May '08? Perhaps the delay in installing it is the source of your problems since it was released for many valid reasons. SP3 installed just fine on my obsolete IBM PC back then.

[Guest silverking]

For Mac folks who are looking for a cron application (which is what Jim discussed above) to run maintenance on their computers, be sure to try "Yasu":

http://jimmitchelldesign.com/projects/yasu/

Yasu performs multiple tasks including daily cron, weekly cron, and monthly cron. It also performs many other routines for a solid and stable OSX.

I run this application across 10 mission critical Macs, and wouldn't be without it.

[wolf]

I am sure you are right about the Mac stuff... I know very little about Mac stuff, just thought I would add it as a by the way...

I am also sure that service pack 3 for win XP runs fine on many (some?) machines - it just totally screwed mine. was it the combination with Zone Alarm? Mozilla stuff ?  who knows....  wolf

[Marc Wielage]

Computer pundit Leo Laporte (www.techguylabs.com) also reports problems with Service Pack 3. If Leo says it's bad, I'd stay away from it.

I agree with Wolf that Windows automatic updates can be really insidious and intrusive. I think the way Apple implements this on the Mac is a lot slicker, and at least gives the user the ability to ignore it more efficiently. That way, you never run the risk of having the computer suddenly reboot itself in order to install updates, when you walk away from it for ten minutes. Windows does this all the time.

--Marc W.

[studiomprd]

Windows automatic update can be set to merely notify you of available updates, much as Mac's software update system does.

[Suresh]

I agree with the Senator. Anyway I have upgraded quite sometime ago and no problem what so ever. Works perfectly.

[Alan]

I have a PC laptop and desktop running both XP service pack 3, no problem so far.

Alan

[Guest Ken Mantlo]

Just loaded Service Pack 3.  All is good.