Windows XP Service Pack 3 will arrive shortly and that’s the perfect time to do a clean install.
Nobody seems to know the exact date of arrival for SP3, some time between now and when hell freezes over (the insiders seem to suggest April/May). No there isn’t anything so compelling or complex in this SP that you ‘have’ to do a clean install but how long has it been since you installed XP? There are many folks that have gone years. Personally I just did a clean install for someone that had gone XP (mid-2002 install) > XP SP1 > XP SP2 (and was complaining how slow it had gotten).
– How many updates to XP is that? Hundreds + IE7, .Net whatevers, WMP 8>9>10>11…
– How many times have you updated an application? As an example in the time frame listed above, iTunes (with Quicktime) went from 4.1 (10/2003) to 7.6.2(04/2008). Firefox went from 1.2 (Phoenix, 09/2002), to 1.5 (Firebird 05/2003), to 2.0.0.13 (Firefox, 03/2008) with all the updates in between.
– How many applications have you uninstalled? (leaving bits and pieces behind)
– How about those applications you haven’t used in eons or have never used at all?
Your system has useless bits and pieces laying all over your hard drive cluttering the disk and hurting performance (we Geeks usually refer to it as “bit rot” but the definition listed under “software rot” seems to describe it better). And it isn’t just about XP either, it’s time to get the latest version of all your applications. That doesn’t mean you have to necessarily buy an updated version but it does mean you should find the last version in your products life cycle. Oh, and lets not forget about those drivers! It’s not too soon to get started, searching and downloading take time. Be sure to put all your new stuff into one folder. Call it SP3_Stuff or something.
Gettin’ Ready For An XP SP3 Clean Install Check List:
1 – Download SP3 (when available)
2 – Other MS apps you might want to get ahead of time:
Windows Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP SP2
Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP
Windows XP Power Toys (there are lots of good ones).
3 – Find your drivers. Hit up your computer manufacturer or find the actual maker of your hardware SIW is a great free tool to find out what you’ve got in your system. If your hardware manufacturer isn’t around any more try Major Geeks or do a Google search.
4 – Use the tool above (SIW) to list all your installed software and the version number. Check the vendors site and/or Major Geeks for updated versions.
5 – Slipstream. Paul Thurrott has a guide to slipstream a SP into an install (works for SP3 too). Optional but highly recommended. Try nLite to make a slipstreamed and integrated CD image.
Notes and FAQ’s from Microsoft:
Windows® XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all previously released updates for the operating system, in addition to a small number of new functionalities that will not significantly change customers’ experience with the operating system…
…your computer must at least be running Windows XP with Service Pack 1 installed…
…We recommended that you have Service Pack 2 installed before installing SP3.
Note: the following operating systems cannot be updated using SP3:
* Windows XP Professional x64
* Windows XP Embedded
*Note – Before you Linux or Mac fanboys even start. Bit rot happens on those OS’s too. I’ve seen it first hand.