Hi All,

In light of information generally reported in the IT media today about service pack 3 for Windows XP, i thought this information may be of use to everyone... I certainly found it time saving. And of course don't forget that RyanVM does a fantastic job with his pack... http://ryanvm.msfn.org/

Below is a link to a package of hotfixes that will possibly be in SP3. It's completely unofficial from Microsoft and is just a collection of fixes said to be in SP3 at some point.

Let me make it clear that it is NOT Service Pack 3, but rather just fixes that will probably go into the official package from Microsoft when they start building SP3.

** USE AT YOUR OWN RISK AND ONLY IF YOU ARE A WINDOWS EXPERT **

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enh...3-Preview.shtml

More information at: http://www.s.p.a.m.net/sp3.html

Dead link

It's junk anyways.

A rip from me and Ryan.

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showA...cleID=172301710

Microsoft really doesn't like it.

Am I just paranoid or is everyone crazy for including all these hotfixes and custom installers from strangers into their Windows installations? I mean, who knows what kinds of things they might try to sneak in there?

I either get stuff straight from Microsoft or from the developer then I do all the trimming and custom work myself. Some guys like RyanVM seem to have pretty good reputations and all, but still...

Am I just paranoid

Yes

These private hotfixes are only intended to work around very uncommon problems in very uncommon situations. If you don't have that problem you really should not use them. They are not tested as much as public hotfixes and public hotfixes are not tested to work with private hotfixes. There is also no information as to when private hotfixes are superceded. You may be including dozens of workarounds that have been fixed by a single public hotfix.

There is no indication that all these private hotfixes will be (or even be included in) the next service pack. The new service pack is likely to include new builds of all the core components, and many of the uncommon problems will go away and many new will appear.