BEWARE! - SP3 is now an automatic update

I really don't know what you are concerned about - I have run SP3 in betas and RC's without issue and have the RTM on 2 computers - not enough room on my EeePC

Here is the link .....

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=D7C9A07A-5267-4BD6-87D0-E2A72099EDB7

Alternatively turn off automatic updates or set to notify and go direct to Microsoft Update and make a custom scan, declining the first offering which is SP3.

 

If you uninstall IE7 and roll back to IE6 you should lose none of your settings or preferences.

My main desktop is powered by an AMD - I had no issues and did not need any patches - not that the patch was available when the RC's and betas were about. Basically, AFAIK the AMD problem was more specific to HP OEM's - mine is self assembled.

On the face of it SP3 is a rollup of all the updates issued since SP2 and the few enhancements are not noticed - or used, by the average user as they are network based. However I noted when installing SP3 that a large number of .dll's were replaced, so maybe there is more to it than meets the eye. A 10% speed increase with SP3 was noted by some testers - I would not be specific about %'s, but my box seems a little faster.

Bottom line is that you are no less secure running SP2 fully patched than you are running SP3. However it is likely at some time in the future that MS will only offer updates to SP3 based systems in line with the current situation in which SP2 must be installed to have the facility to update.

 

I really don't know, in a temporary file somewhere in C:\Windows, but the yellow shield in the notification area should pop up if there are downloads waiting to be installed, that is, if your update settings are anything other than automatic.