Windows XP Service Pack 3

[#1]

One thing I have seen, though I can't totally pin it on SP3 or IE7, is corruption of the Temporary Internet Files settings.
I've seen it set to stupidly high values (many GB) resulting in bizarre performance issues. 
I think the lower-end default/recommended value is 50MB, but I always use 20MB.

[#2]

Quote from: HPsauce

One thing I have seen, though I can't totally pin it on SP3 or IE7, is corruption of the Temporary Internet Files settings. I've seen it set to stupidly high values (many GB) resulting in bizarre performance issues.  I think the lower-end default/recommended value is 50MB, but I always use 20MB.

I've seen some issues with Windows Update if there are a large number of updates and you have it set to less than 100MB. Though that said, I've seen systems with it claiming to be set to 0 but have no issues (the files seem to still drop into tif regardless).

[#3]

Quote from: dgreen007

Can someone please tell me if it is safe to download and install Service Pack 3 for windows XP.

No issues personally, apart from Windows requiring ~350MB of post SP3 updates (though if you've been installing updates other than SP3 for a while, you've likely got most of these already).

[#4]

So would you say there is no point in downloading SP3 if you've already got every other update available?

[#5]

if you download it via windows update, it will only do what is required, in my case it was 100M not 350

[#6]

Quote from: dgreen007

So would you say there is no point in downloading SP3 if you've already got every other update available?

I've just checked the Microsoft site and found that support for SP2 ends on 13-Jul-2010.  Support for SP3 (or later service packs) will continue beyond that date until extended support for XP ends on 08/04/2014.  Support means the ability to pick up security updates, so at some point if you are going to continue to use XP it would be best to update to SP3.

[#7]

Quote from: StickyMick

One thing you could try. Go to: Control Panel -> Internet Properties -> Connections tab, and make sure that "Never dial a connection" is selected, and see if that solves the problem.

I've resurrected my dial-up connection and set it as suggested and this appears to have fixed it.
Many thanks.