XP SP3 Released

Just found this, haven't tested it yet, if anyone else is using it please post any "side effects".

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsxp/0a5b9b10-17e3-40d9-8d3c-0077c953a761.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=75ED934C-8423-4386-AD98-36B124A720AA&displaylang=en

Ok I installed it and it has been running fine. No major noticeable changes. Performance seems about the same, hard to tell as I was also doing some new tweaks which have made my laptop fly.

Anything that they fixed at all?? With every SP they release, the come back with may patches... to fix shmindows problems...

I will wait and see how many will have crashes and problem until they fix it and then we will try to upgrade.. It is never a good idea to perform this type of upgrade specially from MS>>>... when they just introduce them.

Rory, let us know if you see problems...

Runs fine so far. No lockups or anything out of the ordinary. In fact other that some Network diagnostic utility and an additional TOOLS tab in MSCONFIG to launch windows features like IPConfig etc. dont see any difference to note. They probably added in all the security updates that have been released since SP2, though I made my own installer for that sometime last year, and I continue to install that on new XP computers. I will hold off installing it on clients PCs until I have used it myself for a few weeks without errors.

On a side note, tested Vista and just hated it, maybe as it is so different and I dont know it inside and out yet (I like to know the guts of the OS), but the whole Aero theme and Graphics hog part of it does not make me a happy camper (see no point of that 3D memory hog at all); so went back to XP. Check this out, in XP the shared video uses approx 8-27 MB of the total 384MB with the Intel Onboard Graphics, even when watching movies - with Vista it averages around 151MB of the 384MB just idled, not using any additional programs and even tweaked moderately.

My laptop was a 3.4 on the Vista performance mark, and I have 3GB of DDR2-667 with a Core 2 Duo 2.0. It just felt slow, even in classic mode and after disabling many services. In any event, it made me dizzy.

Now just for a refresh of the XP look, Im using the Razor Vista Style with a different bliss background and fully tweaked XP, and I feel good now.

PS. Don't save and use it as a theme as that creates display performance and other issues, just assign the style in the appearance section, then set the desktop background.

Rory, you're the man

Ok thanks

Actually I did install it on a clients PC i built yesterday and its fine, no issues at all so far so ..

Anyway, another thing I should make everyone aware of that are installing new computers and using XP, it is something I mentioned before on another thread:

http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=9354

Explanation again:

THIS IS FOR XP USERS AND NEW MOTHERBOARDS WITH ONBOARD AUDIO CHIPS ENABLED IN THE BIOS (DEFAULT). SPECIFICALLY FOR SOUND MAX AUDIO.

NOTE: The problem still occurs when the Sound Services and files are disabled on startup.

Best fix is to disable the onboard audio and install a separate Sound Card, they are very cheap these days. But if you are worried about additional space it takes up, heat, or just dont want to buy a new card, then read on.

Exploring your computer (eg. browsing folders) there is normally a clicking sound which is the Windows Explorer Sounds in the Sound Scheme; Start Navigation - Complete Navigation is typically not enabled by default.

With the SoundMax drivers for Windows, the issue mentioned in that thread appears, it is slow, somewhat of hangs, as you click on folders and arrow back and up to browse. This problem is not just for Asus boards, also goes for other boards from GigaByte, Asus, etc, it has to be a bug with the SoundMax audio chip and XP.

Perhaps their support is now more geared to Vista, as I only began to see this since Vista was released and around the middle of last year, several systems with the same exact specs which I had not had this problem occurring on in the past, identical hardware except now newer versions of the motherboard, gave issues. I was able to fix one using older drivers, but so far the only fix was to disable the Start Navigation in the Scheme - but even that is not good enough.

To completely get around this bug (as best as can for now), basically you should do this to any new PC that is going to use onboard audio from Soundmax and running XP - simply delete the Start Navigation sound - if you replace it with another file, the problem will still exist - it must be deleted - if you disable it, when the client changes their theme, it will come back enabled - the file must be deleted.

The file is C:\Windows\Media\Windows XP Start.wav

NOTE: its not the file that is the problem, it is the way Windows XP or the Audio driver (or Both) is handling the action.

So far It has appeared on ALL motherboards i have used since the time I found it, when using XP as I always do - Asus and GigaByte at least, and even my new HP laptop (6510b), also occurred on XP Home AND XP Pro and SP2.

While on the issue of Onboard Audio, regarding RealTek, I recently noticed at least on a 945 chipset, when accessing the Windows XP control panel it may also hang or be slow opening. Fix - get rid of the icon in the control panel. To do this, easiest way is to download tweakui and remove the 2 instances of it from the Control Panel tab, which will remove it and get rid of that bug. The icon causes no issues on my 965 laptop chipset though.

(i was originally getting these 2 mixed up, thought the MSI mobo I just built had SoundMax but it was Realtek and it has something called SoundMan, either way, seems they both have their issues with XP!!)

Anyway back to the original issue, could it be SP2 and the newer Audio Chipsets? No idea, thats a question for someone that is still using SP1 or plain old XP without any service packs - but I doubt it, and SP2 is all that is available now, next to Vista.