So what's new in SP3? I don't see any changes except it says SP3 in My Computer instead of SP2.? - u-Assist Forums

JamesJ · 05-04-2008, 04:16 AM

Honestly, that's the only difference I've noticed. What else is there. Can't seem to see anything different. Is it all just minimal stuff, because the way I understood it, SP3 was going to be a very good update for XP, but right now, I'm using it, and I hardly see a difference. Anyone know what some of the updates are?
I just read somewhere it's for XP Professional, and XP Home. Does that mean it won't work with XP Media Center, because that's what I have. Is that why I'm seeing no differences?

Thanks for the help!

mp3 · 05-04-2008, 12:16 PM

im pretty sure media center is professional. idk whats in the update though.

SloMotionLikeSnail · 05-04-2008, 08:16 PM

SP3 will work on ANY versions of Windows, including Media Center.

Functionally, there are very few new additions, it's just general bugfixing and slightly improved memory management, resulting in a minor performance increase.

Here's the official list :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=68C48DAD-BC34-40BE-8D85-6BB4F56F5110&displaylang=en

nathan_jnr · 05-05-2008, 04:16 AM

Service Pack 3 is for Home, Professional, Media Center and Tablet PC editions.

The reason you dont see any diffrences, is because there arent any. Service packs have historically always been about just rolling up all existing updates into one lump package, and this is no diffrence. There are a few small additions to SP3, but nothing that makes any diffrence to end users.

The real point of SP3 is that you do not have to install upwards of 125 updates after installing SP2 on a fresh XP install. And if you are not an enterprise doing massive deployments, or if you dont often do reinstalls, then SP3 is really no diffrent than any other Update Tuesday.