ccleaner and ATF are both very good legit programs however you can over do things, and with ccleaner there is the possibility to mess with the registry which I never ever advise. As stated if you use it in the default setting and only use the cleaner feature you are ok but daily use is over kill for sure. ATF is not as big a risk since it does not have the registry cleaner feature so it is the one I more often suggest using. In the old versions of windows defrag and clean up were pretty important in the new versions much of that is automated and extra work is not nearly as essential. what I would suggest one spend more time on is making sure all the essentials are updated because these days so many infections are coming in through holes in some of these apps. So use the secuina tool every few weeks or so and make sure you stay fully updated. Secunia Online Software Inspector (OSI) and running a malwarebytes scan every few weeks (update it first) is a definite. Plus if you do not have spywareblaster in my book it is a must have, no scans to do just update it once a week then hit enable all protection so the shield is green and it sits there protecting you. SpywareBlaster

I'm about to update to SP3 on my computers and looked at the instructions Ravencajun linked above: Call your computer's manufacturer or check their support website to see if there are any compatibility issues with your computer. Confirm that your BIOS firmware and device drivers are up-to-date. At minimum, your XP computer must be running Service Pack 1 for SP3 to install. To cover every installation option, make sure that you have at least 1.8 GB of free space on your computer's hard drive. Take this opportunity to confirm that you have enough available storage for optimal performance of your computer. Delete any unused programs and data. Perform complete antivirus and spyware scans with up-to-date virus and spyware definitions. Back up your data and make certain you can reinstall it. Remove any Microsoft applications, such as Internet Explorer 8, Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit and Remote Desktop Connection (RDP), that will prevent SP3's installation. ------------------------------------- Some of these I don't know how to do. How do I do this?: Confirm that your BIOS firmware and device drivers are up-to-date. -------------------------------------------- Other things I want to doublecheck I really have to do: Remove any Microsoft applications, such as Internet Explorer 8, Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit and Remote Desktop Connection (RDP), that will prevent SP3's installation. Do I really have to remove IE8. Some of our computers have IE7 - others have IE8. I am not sure if I have Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit and Remote Desktop Connection (RDP). Would I find these in add/remove programs? What do they do? If I have them, do I really have to remove them? And if so, where do I go to re-install? Same with IE8. Thanks. Lynn. PS - I did order the installation CD a while back and have that to use. I gather it's preferable to downloading?

Jane no doubt it will be an Apple commercial if it is not already! I saw one last night that could have been about this reboot over and over situation, have to admit those commercials are funny. IF you have your computers fully updated with all the windows updates and you do not want to tackle this now you do not have to (totally up to you), this is not a super critical update like sp2 was, it is rated moderate. There are some additional changes it makes to the system itself which microsoft would like people to install. But I know a lot of people have decided to at least wait some time to see if there might be some hotfixes that come out to handle some of the issues that are cropping up and there has been discussion in the microsoft forums that this time they may actually put out a hotfix for some of the problems prior to pushing out sp3 in auto update. So waiting is not a bad idea at this point. I would suggest though that you uninstall your IE 7 through add remove before you do install sp3, because if you do not you will not be able to do so at any time in the future and it also affects the ability to try to do fixes on IE7 should they be needed. You can just take it out, put in sp3 when you decide to, then put IE7 back. Or just stay as you are and continue getting your other regular critical windows updates. It is your choice. At this point in time they will not stop you from getting your windows updates just because you do not have sp3, so don't be concerned about that.

blocking sp3 does not in anyway block any other updates so do not worry about that. Minnie what has you confused? did you not know sp3 had been installed on your pc? It went out through auto updates as stated in the original post. susanjn be very very happy do a little dance and rejoice you are one of the lucky ones that is all I can say. (or you have not noticed yet the effects) The horrors others have experienced are quite true and quite numerous and still happening. Anyone doing the install with out first disabling all other programs and most especially any type of security programs including AV, firewall etc can definitely expect problems. Best way to do it still is to go to the actual sp3 download site and download the full sp3 update version(NOT from windows updates), then turn off every thing on the pc or best start in safe mode and try to install. If you have IE7 you better uninstall it prior to putting on sp3 as specified in the instructions listed in an above post. I still don't have it don't plan on getting it.