Which SP to install after factory restore?

Hey all, first post! I have just restored my pc to factory specs because of a stubborn virus I could not get rid of. I have backed up my important files to an external hard drive beforehand, and everything is back to what it once was when I bought it back in '02(WinXP Ver.2002, no SP yet!) And a new one is out of the question at the moment, money's tight.

So I was wondering if could go straight to and install the latest SP3, or am I going to really need anything before I download this, such as SP2 or other updates? Or is it better if I were to stick with SP2? Just curious as to what would be my best course of action, being that my now "un-tainted" pc will be used again for browsing the internet(go fig), as well as burning various media. I've heard of this slipstreaming talk but I would rather keep things simple as they come.

I welcome any advice as the first thing I believe I should do at this point, is to keep WinXP up to date before contracting another nasty virus. Somehow I think only relying on Firefox and BitDefender AV will not be sufficient enough to warrant NOT downloading any updates. Although, I have heard of others online that don't ever update their Windows OS. Sorry for the lengthy post, just figured I would ask before venturing back online with my ol' trusty machine! Thanks in advance.

 

Hi.
you can of course upgrade to SP2 straight away.
Also could you tell me what was the default O/S i.e. the factory made oneon your computer.
P.S. where r u frm ?

 

Oh my, I forgot to fill it in. From Moline, IL, USA. Anyways, the only info I have currently of the O/S is: Windows XP Home Edition Version 2002 (before any SP's were released mind you). The company who made the pc was Systemax, model Ascent. I'll have to take a look at my specs later to find out more as I'm typing this from my sister's laptop. Also, how much room does SP2/3 take as I only have a meager 80 gig hard drive installed. Before the virus took foot, I remember running low on space alongside the rest of my programs(overall speed was slow as well). Don't know if all this was from the updates alone though. Hence the need for the external hard drive.

 

Ok. Got it.
try running the SP 2.
80 GB is just fine for XP.

 

Sorry Pete.
I know that. I just messed up posting the reply. It was meant for other post, You know!
I have edited the reply.

 

After recovery, I now have 63.4 GB of a total size of 67.3 GB. Wow, I'm not even getting a full 80 GB. It's definitely much faster after recovery, so it's like a brand new pc. I finally have my speed back!

Hey Pete, is it better to install SP2 through that download you provided? Or should I update via windows update instead? I'm asking this because I could just download the file to a usb stick from this laptop I'm using, then take and install it onto my pc without exposing it to the internet yet. Is that better?

There is a disclaimer on that page though, that only IT professionals should download the file(?). And that I shouldn't click download if I'm only going to update just one computer.

 

Those sizes are for the Primary Partition(C. The second drive (D is an Extended Partition (also labeled as Logical Drive) which is 7.14 GB total, and 3.10 GB used. I checked it and this where the backup files are located I believe, and the factory specs named it DISE_BACKUP.

Actually, I'll come a little clean with you. I restored my pc once already a few days ago. I just decided to redo the process because when I initially started to update online, I took the really long route by downloading and installing in this order(takes a deep breath). First, had to upgrade/install windows update 3.1(?), then onto all updates before any SP's, then to SP1a, all updates for SP1a, yet another upgrade to windows update, and then culminating with SP2. An arduous task I know, but after all that circus I found out that I went from 63.4 GB of free space, to just 44.6 GB from installing those updates ALONE! Needless to say, not only will I never go that route again, I'm looking hard into what necessarily to install as far as windows updates are concerned, so I have as much free space as possible. Never hurts to practice I guess.

One final note on this, the very first time I ran windows update online, Windows asked me to download SP2 the first go around. Not the latest SP3.

Hmm...in your response to installing SP2 instead of going through Window Update, couldn't I just get the link to download and install SP3 from the get go? That way I have the SP's up to date and only have to update anything after SP3(hopefully conserving much space as well).

Edit: I forgot to read the above posts. Darn you guys type quick! Any other thoughts anyway?

 

Yea, I know. edited my previous post. Sorry

 

Once again, thanks for all the help guys! I just have a few more questions before I do any installs(sorry). What would happen if were to install SP3 in my pc's current state, with no SP2 or others? Would it just fail the installation and ask to try again? Hopefully nothing bad.

Seems like the general consensus here is that SP3 isn't necessary. Is it really worth it to upgrade, or am I fine (i.e. browsing internet) just sticking with SP2 and never worrying about downloading SP3? The last time I installed SP3, before my pc went haywire, I think select programs like Firefox 3 ran slower than the previous one- "2 ". Not saying that was the cause, but I figured would throw it out there.

Finally(yes, this should be it), is it proper to do a backup of my system, or am I ok with setting a restore point instead before any SP install? Many thanks in advance!