Recent XP update now bugs me to update to SP2.

[Soeru]

A recent Windows XP update created this gray star in the taskbar, that periodically bugs me to update to Service Pack 2. I meh'd doing this a long time ago as I heard it rendered a lot of applications useless, and made everything slower. Is it really worth updating to SP2 or is it gonna give some reliability problems?

I'd rather not update to SP2. I deactivated the automatic update thingy completely and have rebooted, but the grey star is still there, staring at me... endlessly. Please help me.

[Inferno.]

Well I've been using SP2, for a long time. Since I got my original copy of XP (not promoting warez here) but it's been a lot more beneficial to me. I've used with both SP2 and without SP2. I've got to say the only change is the security settings; which you can turn off almost instantly. "I've got a FireWall and Antivirus, now fuck off" and it's that easy...

[kupo]

For once I've got to say I agree with Astaroth (ugh). Installing SP2 is not bad at all. If you don't change a couple of settings, it will bug you with "Windows Firewall" and "You do not have antivirus installed" (even though you might have), but that's very easy to just turn off. Automatic updates can also be turned off. If you're worried about what some people say makes it hard to run P2P applications without problems, there's a very easy way to fix that too.
Upgrading to SP2 gives you no problems. Seriously.

[Soeru]

Thanks for the help fellas.

Well I'm not particularly worried about the firewall, I have Norton and I know I have to deactivate XP's own firewall if I upgrade. And I'm sure I can easily figure out how to make it stop whining about not having an antivirus. :p

I'm just concerned if its gonna give me problems with the programs I use on my comp. I use Cubase LE, Fruity Loops, Cakewalk Sonar and some other VST-based multitrack recording/sequencing applications on my comp(I record music) and I wouldn't want to install SP2 if its going to consume more of my comp's resources, therefore degrading the performance of my recording apps.

So if there are no compatibility issues at all, I'll take your word for it. But what about performance? I read SP2 isn't reccomended for comps with >512mb of Ram, I have exactly that. Does SP2 consume more resources? If so, is it possible to turn off any services SP2 adds to get it to run just as fast and smooth as SP1? My computer boots and eats only like 140mb of memory when I'm not running anything besides my firewall, I'm happy with it and it would suck if upgrading unnecessarily will make it slower/eat more memory.

So yeah let me know, if so I'll get SP2 then. Thx.

[kupo]

512 RAM is more than enough. I have two PCs (one at work, one laptop home) with 512 MB RAM. Compatibility is 99% the same as SP1. In other words, I have never had issues on SP2 that were not on SP1. You have my word.

[polokitty]

You have my word.

mine too, and that is certainly all you will ever need