One down, 2 to go!

[Amethyst]

Well, some of you might remember that I'm the lilly livered person who has been scared to put new service packs on the computers in this household. That's a 4 year old XP Media Center Edition desktop, an XP Pro laptop, and a Vista Home Premium laptop (my son's).

So hubby, now the main user of the desktop, is away for the weekend, Microsoft had nicely snuck in the download of SP3 on the computer when I installed MSE on it a while back, and I figured I've got the whole thing to myself and no big download needed, it's time. So...ta da! It's done. And updated. And everything still seems to work. What a relief!

One down, 2 to go.

[mountaintree16]

woohoo! This is great news

[Amethyst]

Hehe, that was a big step for me, and a bit scary. Well, more than a bit. But everything looks good, and that's the oldest computer in the house, too. It helps to know that SP3 can be removed if things don't work out, MS made it that way. I read that a person should turn off their AV and 3rd party firewall and antispyware stuff, too, for the install, so I did that.

I think my laptop (my baby) will be next. But not today, my nerves can only stand so much. I've read of issues with Intel wireless adapters and SP3, so I'm hoping I won't run into that. But I'm already armed with a plan should anything happen.

And I expect the update for my son's laptop to go smoothly, since that is the newest item, and a Dell, custom manufactured, so things should be fairly up to date there.

[mountaintree16]

Again, well done!

Don't forget that XP SP2 support ends July 13th of this year

Good luck with the other two, and you know where to post if you need any help

[catscomputer]

I totally get you about being a bit on the cautious side when it comes to making big changes with our 'babies'. (Haha I call my laptop my baby too!) I'm nervous about changing AVs for the same reason - though I definitely will be at some stage either before or when support ends for my version of my AV.

Hopefully SP3 installations it go smoothly for you with the other two too.

[exile360]

I don't know why you guys are so opposed to having to reformat and reinstall your operating systems. It used to be a way of life for me. I'd break my system and have to format about once every 3-6 months . Painful, sure, but you learn a lot . Of course, I learned rather quickly to back up the files I need to keep on another drive too.

[YoKenny1]

I learned rather quickly to back up the files I need to keep on another drive too.

+1

Plus a good back up manager application like Acronis True Image Home.

[catscomputer]

Exile computers are not my thing. I really know very little about the workings of this beast I'm typing on here. (I'm a nurse - give me broken bodies and I'm cool). When something to do with my PC breaks, I need step by step help from someone with a lot of patience to walk me through repairing it. If it needed reformatting I'd probably have to call a professional, and learn from them for next time maybe. Breakdowns are a part of life though, and I do back up regularly now (have learned to do that much), and learned skills I didn't have before in terms of prevention and repair when I've struck problems (like traceroutes!). And that's all good. EDIT - plus I'm a tad on the anxious and cautious side anyway....

[exile360]

Reformatting and reinstalling is easier than you think . Just insert your Windows installation CD and follow the prompts.

@YoKenny1: Good point about full image backups, but the system doesn't run as fast as a clean, fresh install of Windows. It makes a computer run like brand new again .

[catscomputer]

Reformatting and reinstalling is easier than you think . Just insert your Windows installation CD and follow the prompts.

That's good to know . I don't have disks though as my OS was pre-installed, so it would be a case of ringing MS and reading them the numbers on the sticker on the bottom of my computer. After that though I wouldn't have a clue (I would hope MS would instruct me).

I do have an image of my PC on an external hard drive which a computer repair person made for me using ShadowProtect. He said that if I needed to use it I'd still need to call him because it would need his ShadowProtect software to make it work. He said that was a better option than making recovery disks because they only work in 50% of cases. I like the sound of having a PC run like brand new again with a fresh install though, and no crapware! Besides that image is a year old now, and a lots changed on my PC since then, so I'd still wind up having to do a lot of downloading and updating of software even if I used the image.

[exile360]

You should still create your recovery discs should you ever need them, your tech may not be around forever . Reinstalling with a factory recovery partition is even easier than with a Windows installation disc. Just hit the appropriate key when the PC first powers on (usually F11, but it can vary by manufacturer) and follow the prompts .

[catscomputer]

You should still create your recovery discs should you ever need them, your tech may not be around forever . Reinstalling with a factory recovery partition is even easier than with a Windows installation disc. Just hit the appropriate key when the PC first powers on (usually F11, but it can vary by manufacturer) and follow the prompts .

I will make some recovery disks then too (just incase it can't be restored from my D drive - which I'm told is a recovery drive). Apart from that image being pretty old now, I was not that impressed with the tech chap to be honest, so I'm reluctant to call him back anyway. I do have the name of a very good local company to call now should I need assistance for anything that I can't fix myself via a help forum or something.

[Ibrad]

Reformatting and reinstalling is easier than you think . Just insert your Windows installation CD and follow the prompts.

What if your PC did not come with a Windows CD?

@catscomputer I am super nervous about switching antivirus software also, for some reason I think that if I switch antivirus software my PC will start a huge BSOD loop and I'll never get back into Windows. I have been ever like that because when I installed MSE it caused my PC to freeze before I could ever get in. I finally found out it was ZoneAlarm causing the conflict. After that happened I have only switched antivirus software once, and that was to Panda Cloud. Though I have been thinking about switching again to Rising Antivirus

[Firefox]

If you computer did not come with a windows Cd then it has a factory restore partition in there, where you would hit like F11 and select the right options to recover back to factory defaults.

[Ibrad]

If you computer did not come with a windows Cd then it has a factory restore partition in there, where you would hit like F11 and select the right options to recover back to factory defaults.

So if I ever destroy my hard drive so much all I have to do it click factory defaults and then it goes back from when I got the machine? That's awesome I never knew it did that. I always back up all my personal stuff to a flash drive (Software keys, Photos, Documents) before I make major changes to my machine so this information will come in handy.

[Firefox]

So if I ever destroy my hard drive so much all I have to do it click factory defaults and then it goes back from when I got the machine? That's awesome I never knew it did that. I always back up all my personal stuff to a flash drive (Software keys, Photos, Documents) before I make major changes to my machine so this information will come in handy.

Yes that is what its intended for..... but it will not help you if your hard drive fails though....

[Amethyst]

My very first computer, a Windows 98SE, came with both a hidden recovery partition and a restore CD. The CD was nice. The computer booted from the CD drive by default, so if you had a problem you could pop the CD in and you were given the option to restore from a list of restore points, and it saved the very first restore point it made from the first time the system was powered up. Or you could format and restore everything, which was Windows plus all the other factory stuff. Or you could install ONLY Windows without all the other stuff. In the end, I think this computer had some hardware problems. It was formatted and restored successfully 3 times, but the 3rd time it took navigating to the right setup file on the CD, and the last time I tried I couldn't get it to work at all, and that was with a new CD sent by the factory. I suspect the hard drive had a bad spot, as the computer had all sorts of other problems. She was pretty cranky and unstable before finally being retired.

The current desktop didn't come with any CD's, but the vendor said I should run the program to create recovery DVD's right away, which I did. I've done the same with the laptop, which took 11 CD's. Both of these systems also have recovery partitions.

Doing a format and restore DOES seem traumatic at the time, but if you have everything backed up, it's not much more than an inconvenience. And it can be a big inconvenience, but if things are that bad that you need to format and restore anyway, at least you've got something decent (hopefully) to start with. Unless you're a gamer. My son lost some levels on his Roller Coaster Tycoon game, although I had backed up all the game settings. It didn't seem to 'take', for some reason, not for everything anyway. I don't know what the ideal backup solution would be for a gamer. I mean, you can't mirror your entire system every day.

Catscomputer, I agree changing security software IS a big deal for a computer and I hate doing it. Nowadays, though, I think the AV's at least have nice cleanup tools, and I think that helps. When I changed the AV's on my 2 from AVG to MSE, I wrote out all the steps first, and it actually went just fine.

[catscomputer]

Catscomputer, I agree changing security software IS a big deal for a computer and I hate doing it. Nowadays, though, I think the AV's at least have nice cleanup tools, and I think that helps. When I changed the AV's on my 2 from AVG to MSE, I wrote out all the steps first, and it actually went just fine.

I'm sure I've written about this on the forum somewhere before, but my experience with the Nortons Removal Tool murdering my computer (and failing to remove the remnants of Norton I might add ) PLUS the many problems on the AVG Forum about difficulty uninstalling AVG is what makes me nervous about proceeding. I do remember it left politely on your PC though, and I have the help forum here if I run into trouble. Exile wants me to run an Autoruns thing after I've removed AVG to do a clean up of any Norton and AVG left. Really I just need the bite the bullet and DO it! (It will either be Avira or MSE - I change my mind about which on a fairly regular basis.... ).

[Amethyst]

I do remember you mentioning difficulty with the Norton's removal tool, and I can sure understand your not wanting a repeat of that experience. My desktop had Norton's preinstalled and I used it for about a year before changing to ZASS for about a year and a half. I didn't run the Norton's Removal Tool, although I probably should have. Later I changed from ZASS to AVG free and Windows firewall (behind a router) and I still didn't use the Norton's tool. AVG always worked fine for me. ZASS hadn't developed a tool by the time I got rid of it, but they provided detailed instructions for uninstalling and I did all of that, so there didn't seem to be any problems between it and AVG. ZASS later did come out with a tool, which I ran and it crashed relentlessly. I found out their tool is a bit different--you run it while the program is still installed on your system and that is how it is meant to be used.

I used AVG's removal tool after uninstalling with their uninstall file from the Programs menu. Went just fine. I'm using Microsoft Security Essentials now. On my desktop, MSE's icon was staying red a bit longer than it should have been while the computer was starting up, and the odd time it would stay red even though security center and process explorer and task manager all said the AV was running. Clicking on the MSE icon would turn it green. This was an intermittent thing. I finally ran the Norton's Removal Tool to see if that would solve it. It didn't really, but it didn't cause any problems either.

I've noticed since the upgrade to XP SP3, the MSE icon is loading green, but then it always loaded green on the laptop as well, and the laptop still is running SP2.

I am nervous about making big changes to computers, but over the years I've learned to have backups and always make sure before I do anything that I know in advance how to undo it. I ask questions and do research before I do stuff or install things and try to plan for possible problems should they come up. And restore points are my friend. I haven't had to use one for a long time, but it's good to have them anyway.

And if I can get online, I know where to go to get help, eh? Great bunch of people on this message board.

[catscomputer]

And if I can get online, I know where to go to get help, eh? Great bunch of people on this message board.

Yes definitely, to both.

It was thanks to the dastardly Norton Removal Tool that I learned how to do a System Restore, and the restore worked beautifully (of course I still have a ton of Nortons remnants now, but oh well). I'm told this Autoruns thing will sort that out. I'll be posting the log on the PC help forum when I do the big switcheroo.

[Ibrad]

I'm sure I've written about this on the forum somewhere before, but my experience with the Nortons Removal Tool murdering my computer (and failing to remove the remnants of Norton I might add ) PLUS the many problems on the AVG Forum about difficulty uninstalling AVG is what makes me nervous about proceeding. I do remember it left politely on your PC though, and I have the help forum here if I run into trouble. Exile wants me to run an Autoruns thing after I've removed AVG to do a clean up of any Norton and AVG left. Really I just need the bite the bullet and DO it! (It will either be Avira or MSE - I change my mind about which on a fairly regular basis.... ).

I have uninstalled AVG twice no problems at all, the reason the support forums are full are people complaining about the uninstall going wrong is because the users it uninstalls correctly fordon't go to their forum and post that it worked right.

[catscomputer]

@ Ibrad

Well of course. If you don't need support you don't post in a support forum I guess. Even though it uninstalls as it should for many, that doesn't take away that a lot of people DO have problems getting it to uninstall (judging by the number of posts on the subject). I'm hoping I don't have difficulty removing it (as has been the experience of you and some others here recently), but I'm not going to feel completely surprised if I do..... I hope it goes better than my experiences trying to shift Nortons.

[Amethyst]

:)

<does a happy dance! Doesn't have an emoticon for that...>

Woo hoo!

Guess what computer I'm writing on...my laptop...which is now running SP3!!! (There ya go, Tom, I did it! Tom urged me on a support ticket to get this laptop updated.)

The only problem I had anticipated was with my wireless adapter because Microsoft cautioned about that. I actually have an updated driver for the adapter sitting here on my hard drive, just in case, but my laptop's manufacturer did say on the download page that if you're not having any problems, you don't need to update. I had also read some posts on the Lenovo forums re people having problems with their Thinkvantage Access software and SP3. (Thinkvantage is a connection profile manager. It gets mixed reviews.) I didn't update any of it. I decided to keep it simple. Try SP3, if I had a problem getting online, disable Thinkvantage first, try letting Windows manage my internet connection. If that didn't work, update the wireless adapter. If that didn't work...use other computer and come here. But things are fine. My network places just isn't seeing the other computer in the workgroup, but that does happen once in while and I can navigate to the other computer re the address bar. It'll probably be visible again after another reboot.

For this one, I again shut down Malwarebytes and MSE, but I did not shut down Outpost Free. Outpost Free did not protest any of the changes that were made.

OK, now I've got 11 more updates for SP3, I guess, so I'll get on with that.

Next week...the son's Vista laptop...I think it's SP2 due to go on that one.

[mountaintree16]

woohoo congrats Good luck with the last one

[Amethyst]

Or maybe I'll just hold off on the rest of those updates.

http://forums.malwarebytes.org/index.php?showtopic=39655

Thanks for the heads up, Firefox! I'm glad I checked here first!