Ken,
You buy 'em books and buy 'em books but all they do is eat the
covers! :-) And I might add, just because they're paranoid, that
doesn't mean somebody's not out to get them. :-;
At this point I've installed SP3 on 25 machines, 4 home PCs (no 2
alike) and 21 classroom machines. All are running just fine. I did
have a problem getting SP3 installed on one (out of 25), but downloading
the SP3 install file and installing it in Safe Mode got me around that
one problem. And I must say I haven't seen the first problem on ANY of
these machines. Further it appears that none of these people have
followed the sage advice to image their HDs before installing SP3; at
least if they did, they sure didn't mention trying a restore. You'd
better believe I backed up every one of the PCs I installed SP3 on
BEFORE installing it. I didn't have to use any of the backups, but I
sure wouldn't think of not making them, even after 25 successes.
You can buy external hard drives for as little as $50, and good
backup programs for $50 or less. That's pretty cheap for insurance.
Hmmm, I wonder if these whiners drive without auto insurance and spare
tires! :-)

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
> On Tue, 8 Jul 2008 18:18:31 -0400, "Rudy" <rucan70@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> I entirely agree......Herb. I've been reading all these problems that
>> some if not most have been experiencing w/ SP3; also, w/ SP2 when it made
>> its debut.
>
>
> Whenever a new version of *anything* comes out, you always read about
> "all these problems that some if not most have." But realize two
> things:
>
> 1. If you're reading about problems *here*, this where people come
> with their problems, not with their successes. You get a very
> distorted view of what's going on in the real world here; as someone
> once said, "hang around a transmission shop and you will think that
> all cars have transmission problems."
>
> 2. Most problems, by far, that people report here--whether or not they
> are SP3-related--have nothing to do with defects in the software. They
> result from people's ignorance, from bad or inadequate hardware, from
> old drivers, from viruses, from spyware, and so on. And except for
> very rare situations, they always get a fix for their problems, and in
> most cases, that fix is a very simple one to implement.
>
>
>
>> Is there much to be gained from having SP3,
>
>
> Better security and problems fixed. You can read the details here:
> http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en
>
>
>
>
>> w/o entertaining a
>> myriad of MS problems. I'm still w/ SP1 & have reliable anti-virus &
>> firewall programs.
>> I can stand back wait till SP3...MS resolve these gliches.
>> Rudy
>>
>>
>> "Herb" <herbh30@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
>> news:Ofm07WS4IHA.4332@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> My best advice is to keep as far away from SP3 as you can. I installed it on
>> my desktop (a XP Pro) and the next day it started recycling and other weird
>> things. When I tried to fix it, it went from bad to worse and then I could
>> no longer do anything with it. I took it to a computer repair and he gave up
>> so it cost me a computer, I had to buy a new machine. I built that computer
>> and in 4 years had never had a problem. I did not have Norton. I use AVG. I
>> run a Google search and found many people have had this problem. Microsoft
>> blames OEM's and OEM's blame Microsoft, you know the drill.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> "Katie" <Katie@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:AAB735E3-E772-4472-8222-EA9821777940@microsoft.com...
>>> DI installed SP3 last week on my home computer. I began having problems:
>>> slow
>>> reaction times, programs not loading when I click, even little notepad
>>> documents not loading. Then when I tried to run NAV 2008 full system scan,
>>> the computer started turning off & rebooting. Happened 4 - 5 times over
>>> the
>>> course of the day. I uninstalled & reinstalled NAV, tried a Restore, but
>>> the
>>> computer still crashed again (not when running a scan.) SO... I
>>> uninstalled
>>> the Service Pack 3. I had read about other people having problems with it.
>>>
>>> MY QUESTION: Do I need SP3? Will other Microsoft security updates do the
>>> job
>>> for me? I've turned off Automatic Updates until I can figure this out,
>>> because I don't want SP3 until I know it won't cause so many problems.
>>
>