Fear of SP2 & sundry other updates

[Guest]

I just scanned through 38 posts regarding fears of installing SP2. Well, I'm
an admitted novice, so when I'm faced with ANY additions to my machine I want
to hide. However, I read all the cautions about getting current BIOS, making
sure all pests were excised, e.t.c., and had no problem with SP2. I guess
the moral is: Be very cautious, read ALL of the warnings, do exactly as
told, and, maybe, everything will come out in the wash.

 

[MGGP]

Thanks for the feedback. We need more of this.

For most people (you included) it's a very simple
operation, either before or after a major update, to
purchase an extra hard drive - a 40Gb drive is about $50 -
and add it as a slave. Then, do an image of your C drive
once or twice a month - using Ghost, or True Image, etc. -
so that you will NEVER have to re-load from scratch.
Also, you can put the image files on CD once in a while
and store them at grandma's house, or someplace offsite.

I sleep better at night knowing that no matter what
happens, my data are safe.

Good Luck !

 

[t.cruise]

There are just too many variables involved. Some write, "I had no problems, just do it."
Unfortunately not all systems and peripherals play nice with SP2. You had a good
experience, and others have not. I'll get flamed for this, but my rule of thumb is: If
my system is running fine, and I don't have need for specific features in an update, I
don't update. The big sell for SP2 was the security aspect of it, and some networking
features. If one has a decent firewall, a good antivirus utility, a decent pop up
blocker, a good cookie utility, and doesn't network, I don't recommend updating to SP2,
especially for a system that has components/peripherals that are older than two years.
Others can flame me all they want for my approach. But, I have more than one Windows XP
system, have never downloaded a Windows XP update, and have never had any problems. My
clients who have installed Windows XP updates can't say the same.