How To Install Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3)

If you are a Windows XP user, you must install Service Pack 3 to enjoy secure computing. Beside, there are plenty of stunning features that will make your computing experience more exciting and enjoyable. Here you will find tips to install XP Service Pack 3. You can also get help from a computer repair service provider that offer operating system support.

For installing XP SP3, the PC needs to have a CD-ROM drive and at least a 233 megahertz (MHz) processor, 64 megabytes (MB) of RAM, 900 MB of available disk space. The SP3 could be installed on both XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional.

Before you start installing SP3, you need to take care of some important things. Start your computer and log on as an administrator and perform a full backup of the files. You can keep the backup to an external location like an external hard disk, network folder, DVD, CD, USB flash drive, etc. Use the Backup and Restore Wizard to perform this task.

Windows XP Professional users are recommended to create an Automated System Recovery (ASR) set prior to begin the installation. This will come handy, if the installation fails. Then close all open programs and proceed with the installation. You have two options to install SP3. You can either use the SP3 CD or install Windows XP Service Pack 3 from the Microsoft website. Here you will find a link to Windows Update through which you can install SP3.

If you install SP3 from the Service Pack 3 CD, you need to insert the product CD into the optical drive. Then the Welcome to Windows XP Service Pack 3 window will automatically open. If it doesn't appear automatically, click Start, click Run, and then type Drive :\Autorun.exe. Instead of Drive :, you need put the drive letter associated with your CD/DVD-ROM drive, and then press ENTER.

If you want to install Windows XP SP3 from the website, you need to click Open or Run, and follow the instructions on the screen. If you would like to install the program later, click Save and download the installation file to your PC. Whenever you want to install the service pack, just double-click the file and click Continue on the Welcome to Windows XP Service Pack 3 window. You need to follow the instructions that appear on your screen and after the completion of installation, click Finish. Your computer will be restarted and now your PC is having Windows XP SP3. If you disabled the antivirus software before installing SP3, enable it again.

This is the process to install SP3 on your PC.