Hi my windows machine is offline and just wondering if I need the service pack 3 or not. A friend who probably has a slower pc with less ram had problems after installing sp3 but she is online with her machine. I have sp3 on a cd that someone has given me if I need to install it. I recently did put the machine online long enough to install the latest updates minus sp3. This is a fairly recent install of windows and I have no intention of browsing or anything online as I use a different machine with linux. So i would like to know peoples opinions on this subject and feedback as per their experiences with lower specs/sp3. Thanks!!! "The meaning of life is to be happy and useful" Tenzin Gyatso the 14th Dalai Lama

Simple rule of thumb: if it ain't broke, don't fix it (i.e.---if it's working fine, why risk it?)

Yeah I feel that way. I guess because my Uncles are techicians they get all fussed up about these things. I expressed I didn't really need it because the pc is offline but they don't listen and they downloaded it anyway. Then they left the cd on my front porch. I had totally forgotten that I even asked them about the issue. So for another opinion or several I thought this is the space to ask. Thanks muchly!!!! "The meaning of life is to be happy and useful" Tenzin Gyatso the 14th Dalai Lama

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946... "If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions" - Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) in Pulp Fiction

Thanks for that jam. A lot to read but the summary says it all anyway! :0) "The meaning of life is to be happy and useful" Tenzin Gyatso the 14th Dalai Lama

Looks like a lot of opportunities to really mess something up to me. After freshly installing XPSP2 on the current "workhorse" machine (it would be a joke to most others---1.8Mhz Duron w/2GB RAM and 40GB HDD) in April of 2006, I went to Windows Update once (July of the same year--same time I got broadband), and haven't been back since. I avoid IE like the plague, keep all virus/firewall/spyware/adware updated and carefully monitor what's on my machine (a large number of Apps are of the portable variety). It downloads around 300GB/month from usenet and likely another 50-100GB in other files (it has an 80GB, 160GB and 2 320GB external USB drives and dual IDE DVD-burners) so it's downloading and/or burning just about 24/7. Haven't had any issues as of yet to speak of...

OK good to know someone elses opinion on this! Thanks! "The meaning of life is to be happy and useful" Tenzin Gyatso the 14th Dalai Lama