SP1-To download or not to download

[Engineer]

I read a lot of hype when SP1 was first released about how the SP was " a must download" and so on.
I hesitated downloading, wanting first to hear some of the feedback from other users who had downloaded it. I am beginning to read (across a variety of forums) how many problems SP1 is causing.

I am still uncertain as to whether I will be downloading it or not, I've looked over the contents of it and I don't know if I need most of those "fixes" anyway.

I am fearful that SP1 will only "fix" my computers current compabitbility and healthy relationship with XP.

Your feedback would be appreciated.
thanks

 

[NotBold_Fortune]

If you do a search for comments on SP1 you're going to run into a whole lotta posts that blame SP1 for everything from not displaying gifs properly to bringing back the plague.

Here and there you will see a comment about SP1 being a good thing, and the person is happy to have installed it. Note how these very few positive posts are ignored and overlooked and practically shunned in favor of complaining about and blaming problems on SP1.

Eventually it will come out that it's pretty much up to the user if he or she is willing to install SP1 properly. Which in turn will lead to SP1 being a very good thing.

If you do a clean install and then install SP1, you most-likely will not experience any problems, but will experience some pluses for your system. If you make a slipdisk of XP/SP1, and do a format before installing it, it's going to be like installing XP Second Edition.

SP1 is a good thing; however, you won't find much praise of it here, just lots of complaints.

 

[2z]

Originally posted by NotBold_Fortune
If you make a slipdisk of XP/SP1, and do a format before installing it, it's going to be like installing
XP Second Edition.

Well said Bold
Nice Post

 

[dabomb]

i installed it and alls good atm

 

[yoyo]

It is like news on tv. You will never hear: There wasn't an earthquake today. People tend to make SP1 responsible for everything at the moment. In many cases they have screwed it up themselves before and hoping SP1 will cure any major issue they have with their machine. It will not, but it contains some 'musthave-fixes' and you will need it for SP2 and SP3. Since the next Windows is likely to be out in 2005, we will have to live with XP some years. So I think it is not a bad idea to keep it uptodate.
Btw. no earthquakes here.

 

[Engineer]

I agree with one bit of very valuable advice which is if I do a clean install of XP followed up by SP1, then I am sure that it will be fine.

However, what is a "slip disk"?

 

[2z]

Originally posted by Engineer
However, what is a "slip disk"?

Creating a bootable Windows XP SP1 CD

 

[neoterixx]

I have upgraded to SP1 and haven't noticed any differences in a negative way.

 

[XP Abuser]

im not one to moan but after installing xp sp1 the windows sounds have become delayed it plays the first 1/2 second stops a second then plays the rest this also happens on a clean install no ones says anything about it ive searched google etc and i was hoping im not the only bugger with this problem!!! thanx 4 replying

 

[DrMetallica]

I just installed SP1 right now. It really is running my applications instantly and showing web pages instantly. I just tried my FTP application, and it transferred files fine. No problems.

I recommend it

 

[geekboy]

my God...it sux!

Do not install this update...Read the cnet reviews and other forums about this horrible update. I had it on my machine for a week or two, seemed fine. Then the trouble started. Couldn't upgrade drivers, errror messages about "not the correct system file, or system files replaced by unrecognized version". Oulook express profiles went away, etc. etc etc. Needless to say, removing it fixed ALL problems and had to restore to a point a week or two previous. I am an mcse and work as a network service analyst. We have spent two weeks dealing with the problems from this beast. Wait till you see the dreaded "reboot loop" on half the new dells and compaqs I deal with.

I have also had pc's where it has seemed to work ok but I wouldn't risk it as of yet.

You have been warned.

 

[Terrahertz]

No two systems are the same.

 

[jak deth]

SP1

The warzers have nothing good to say about it as it is going to kill the activation due to the blacklisted keys MS is aware of. I haven't seen the list of fixes but I have kept current with all updates to XP, (a sizeable amount I may say) and the only one I didn't have is available at http://grc.com/xpdite/xpdite.htm which is under 'Shields Up', Xpdite. It is a fix for a malicious URL or other means of sending code that can delete any and all files in the XP install. If anyone does a lot of surfing, especially to iffy sites they better have a good firewall and an up to date virus app. I can't say even with those 2 apps you are safe from this particular code.

I haven't installed it yet as I have a 56 connection and don't feel like spending 7 hours downloading it. I can't make a copy at work so I am waiting on a friend to burn and send me a copy of SP1 so I can install it.

From what I have heard it is a compilation of all the fixes to date and a few others not posted to the update site.

 

[jak deth]

The idea of doing a clean install and then applying SP1 is fine if you haven't been using it for 2 years and have a ton of apps installed. If I were to go the clean install route it would cost me at least a day reinstalling all apps, saving data and bringing it back in and for sure I would miss something and kick myself for losing it.

A six month old XP install or older almost necessitates the install of SP1 over the current install. IMHO

 

[frothymilkshake]

I installed SP1 within a day of a clean install of XP. Things are working fine. No problems arised.

 

[damnyank]

I initially installed SP1 on Friday the 13th (do I have guts or what?) Did not do anything special to my puter (other than backup and restore point) Have ben runinng XP since Feb when I got this puter and have never had a BSOD, nor any other non-operator induced problems. Knock on wood.

Only problem I had was a malicous script detected whenever I ran a search from Help and Support. Played around with it for a few days and decided as part of the troubleshooting to uninstall XP1 and see if it (malicious script) went away. I uninstalled SP1, ran XPdite to add the statement and ran a search from Help and Support - no problem with a malicious script.

I then reinstalled SP1, ran XPdite to make sure I had the safe statement (which I naturally did) and my malicious script came back. Took a chance and ran the script once - no problem, ran it again and still no problem - so I permitted the script and Help and Support has been running okay for three days.

I figure it is something SP1 does not like about my NAV setup. I plan on upgrading to NSW 2003 shortly and will see what happens with that.

So I installed, uninstalled and reinstalled SP1 - only "precautions" I took was to disable NAV and shut down all programs including Zone Alarm, Messenger, and WinDoctor and I had no problems. The task went slow at times and I thought it was never going to boot after the first install - but all things appear to working other than that malicious script thing!

So I guess it is possible to install SP1 on a system without a clean install and still not have a multitude of problems - Oh My God - isn't it supposed to work that way??

 

[PHiSHnz]

i had 0 errors, actually xp worked better after sp1 (as i expected)

 

[Friend of Bill]

Quote: SP1-To download or not to download

Do it, do it...!

 

[MMF]

The only negative difference i have noticed is more booting time but on the other hand there are many fixes for stability and security of the system.