Critical Updates for SP1 and some ?'s about SP2

I think I will remove all updates/hotfixes before I install SP2;  I think this may be the cleanest way to go for all who had SP1 pre-installed who are comfortable with doing so. Probably not advisable for novices. 

Message Edited by maxd on 08-10-2004 01:42 PM

According to MS, yes, if you have all the critical updates currently available, when SP2 appears at Windows update (when, I don't know, maybe later this week), and you select express install, it will need to download less as it will recognise what you already have (but still about 80MB, most probably).

However, I think you are wise to get the CD. Should you ever need to do a clean reinstall, it will come in handy

I am going to second the post from Mary G. After reading some articles from those who have been beta testing service 2 pack they are suggesting about a month wait to see how people get along with it before installing. They say that most issues that they have had with the beta version have been fixed. Fred Langa and Scott Finnie have wirtten about SP2 and the two links are below if you choose to see what they have to say. They are well written articles about this subject.

http://www.scotsnewsletter.com/59.htm

http://langa.com/newsletters/2004/2004-07-12.htm#1

Bad idea. It will work better if you have all the critical updates already installed. There are some updates that can't be uninstalled & that will cause problems. If you're worried about sp2, wait a few weeks to see how the update goes before installing it.

I am going to third her post in regards to letting others being the unfortunate guinea pigs. I do think there is going to be problems with the overlaying of SP2 onto existing systems; time will tell. I think that all the updates are uninstallable even though some are hard to get at; I could be wrong.

No problems whatsoever here with WinXP SP-2 (with the original updates to WinXP installed) on 5 systems, two of which don't even meet the "WinXP Readiness" criteria, according to Dell.  (XPST450 and Optiplex GX110)  RC2 of SP-2 was every bit as easy to work with.  Those 5 systems share a printer with a Compaq Deskpro SFF running WinME, and a Lat C600 with Win2k SP3 on a local network, and everything behaves very well.

I can't see any reason to uninstall pre-SP2 updates prior to applying SP2.  They all disappear from Add/Remove Programs when SP2 goes on anyway, and everything still works as well (or better) as it did prior to SP2.

 

If you are up-to-date w/ SP-1 and using a home computer, I would let auto updates update to SP 2. If you want to get it now, download it from MS site. Defrag your system and run anti-virus program. Back-up your critical programs/data and install SP 2.
It takes about 30 minutes for the download using DSL connection. If you have dial-up order the Disk from MS.
It took about 20 minutes for the update to load, etc. on my 5150.
BEFORE updating make sure you have a restore point using either MS' Restore or Nortons Go Back. You can undo and 'go-back' if necessary.

SP 2 loaded on my computer w/o any problems and I havn't seen any problems w/ it interfacing w/ my programs. Make sure you defrag after it is loaded, and as an aside IE runs much faster and has a built-in pop-up blocker!

Good luck!.....Its a 'good' update from MS.

Instead of removing the updates and hotfixes, back up your data files and just do a clean install...   good to do occassionally anyway ;p