No and you do not ever need it, forget about it.

I've install SP 3 on a Dell and on my eMachine. No problems.
cg

I dont know what the big problem with everyone on this is??
If your machine is healthy, free of errors, clean, and have kept up with the MS Updates, there should be absolutely no problems. I have updated three machines with this and nada

In my readings the reoccurring advise for a successful download and installation of XP SP3 is to disable all operations that are configured into the O/S, i.e antivirus and firewalls, before undertaking. If you decide to do this be sure they are enabled after installation.

As an aside, I chuckled at this suggestion. The process is a throw back to the old Win95/98 days. At that time the recommendation was to do a C-A-D and disable all entries except Explorer and Systray before doing any application installation. Maybe somethings never change.

DA

Genes accept that you have been very fortunate but unfortunately thousands of other real people with real pcs that they kept healthy and clean were trashed by sp3, there are pages and pages of these reports nothing is made up it is very real so one persons concerns must be addressed with a full disclosure that there are indeed many problems that CAN occur when installing sp3. Go into it very informed if you decide to do so and as damccoy said turn everything off before any attempt. Plus if you already have IE7 on your pc you need to remove it prior to then re-install after it because if you do not you will no longer be able to do uninstall or repairs on it.

I suggest you search this very forum smoker for the many threads about sp3 and research the information available on how to do it safely and how to be prepared if after install you can no longer boot the pc so that should you be one of the unfortunate ones you will be somewhat prepared.

As Zep said all of the updates that are in sp3 have been given out individually by windows updates so if you have been keeping your critical updates done you likely have all of the security updates already on the pc.

what to do is entirely up to you, just be prepared.

Oh Me! I wish I had read this long time ago. I thought it was best to do all windows updates.
I installed sp3 sometime ago.. SO FAR I have had no problems with it (as far as I know). I do have one problem but not sure if that is what is causing it. My AVG is not doing the updates like it should. I keep getting the ! and do the update manually. I don't know how to fix that..or if I can.
Would I be better off deleting AVG & installing Avast? I think that is correct name. I seem to be able to get myself in more trouble LOL
Dar

My thought was (considering I know nothing :o) was that eventually something would come up and it would require you to have all the service packs installed. I ordered the disc and installed it that way and everything seemed to go well...

Maybee using the disc is the best way to do it and how most of the help sites are suggesting or to go and download the full version rather than doing it through auto updates because when using auto updates of course your other programs are all ON which can cause conflicts. So using the disc or the full version download and being able to fully turn off all security programs and any other running programs will have a much better chance of succeeding.

For those that have it and it was successful that is very good! The problems were that it was not compatible with certain pc brands and motherboards as well as many antivirus programs, so you are one of the lucky ones that had everything right and it went in ok.
I am one of the people that had one of the HP AMD computers that would have been unable to boot, thank goodness I am one of those people that research everything prior to doing a major update or install and found out I should not do it till certain things had been done. After more research I personally have determined I don't need it on my pc, I have all of my updates and my pc is working great, I choose not to risk it since my pc is older and falls under several of the "problem" areas for sp3.

But if you have it and all is going well jump for joy LOL

As always making a very very informed decision is the only way to go! The choice is yours.

At this time they are NOT stopping any updates if you do not have sp3 so do not worry about that! You can still get all your critical windows updates.

sugar_fl there have been problems lately with AVG updates it is a problem with them, it is being worked on, there are many reports of update issues on other forums as well like this one for example.
update server problem?

that being said you can certainly change from AVG to AVAST if you want to.
avast! 4 Home Edition
that is the AVAST page, on the left please fully read the install pdf and the user pdf on how to install and set up AVAST.

Be sure you fully remove AVG prior to installing and running AVAST. If you need help with any of that start a new thread asking for help.

Sugar_fl, I was having the same problems for a while. Finally found a fix on AVGfree forum, if you really want to continue using it like I do.

Had to DL and save to desktop, then uninstall old version and install fresh DL. Pretty easy and there were good initial instructions (which I wrote out before starting)and prompts along the way. HTH. Sandy

Here is a link that might be useful: Fix for AVG 7.5 updates

SP3 stopped my pc in its tracks. Even after I uninstalled, my pc was crazy slow. I called MS for support. When the MS auto operator offers a separate no cost option for SP3 issues, you know that MS knows it's a problem! It took MS techs a while to undo it-there were more than 17 files installed. The techs at my company advise against installing SP3 (we have about 12,000 employees).

My thought is:

I purchased the SP3 disk awhile back but didn't install it.
Is that disk up to date if I decide to install it or will it be if in time SP3 installation is a have too?

that disc will be the only one issued for sp3 urlee

I have dial-up service and because of this, SP3 came into my computer during several sessions of being on-line. My copy of SP3 greatly fouled my computer. The installer stopped when near the end of the install and left a MESS.

I tried to uninstall, but that did not work.

I tried to use the 'file repair' option on my original Windows XP disc. It refused to do this - said that I was trying to load files from an older version to a newer one. LOL.

Parts of my system barely worked. Much of it was trashed.

A session with a MicroSoft IT person did not work (although he was very accomodating).

I recovered by going to my favorite computer service & store and purchased an OEM disc of XP with SP3. This installed ok. (This fix cost me the purchase price of XP, but that was better than loosing all my old email files containing genealogical data.)

After my computer was up and running with XP with SP3, I found that all the installed aoftware was no longer registered. All my applications had to be re-installed. I had to reinstall ThunderBird and all of its settings were lost. These had to be re-entered to get it working again. All the modem/internet connection settings had been lost. These had to be set up again. I was not happy, in fact, I was very preturbed before it was all over. Fortunatley, I did get back all my emails because I had a backup copy on an enternal hard drive.

I have no idea what went wrong - I suppose the interrupted downloaded file had errors, or its installer was bad. Supposedly, this download was supposed to support interruptions.

jemdandy that is one of the very reasons that I feel sp3 should never have been pushed out through auto updates! it was too big for those on dial up and exactly what happened to you happened to many and when it goes on through auto update that way there is no way to have your antivirus and firewall programs disabled which in the directives for install it says those must be disabled prior to install. They should have done what they did for sp2 and mailed out free copies of the disc or had them available at local big box stores, I picked up my copy of sp2 at Staples, that way the chances of having a good install are much improved.

They have made the iso file available for download to burn to cd but honestly most people have no idea how to do that.
Buying the disc from them was an option but it should have been free.