The Ekaru Technology Advisor Vol 8-2 May 2008
Welcome to this month's issue! The Technology Advisor provides technology advice, strategy, tips and trends to help you manage and grow your business!
Microsoft Windows XP SP3 - Severe Problems reported
Several clients have asked if they should install the latest Microsoft update - Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3). Microsoft routinely releases updates to all of its products. Occasionally, a major set of updates is packaged into what's known as a Service Pack. These updates generally include security and performance improvements.
We are advising all clients to hold off on installing SP3 which was recently released. If you are running Automatic Updates with automatic installation, we recommend that you change this setting to “Notify me but don't automatically download or install them”. Although SP3 isn’t being pushed out yet as an Automatic Update, it will be in the future. To check your settings, go to “Start” / “Control Panel” / “Automatic Updates”.
Although it's important to keep your operating system up to date, there is no rush to install the latest updates, and in this case, the update can cause severe harm.
The worst issues reported are related to HP workstations with AMD processors. After installation of SP3, these workstations are going into endless reboot cycles, making the systems unusable and very difficult to recover. There are other driver incompatibility issues as well, such as wireless mouse failures, etc. Years ago, Microsoft warned all OEMs to be careful about images when they build new systems, keeping images specific to like hardware. It's now known that on some HP workstations with AMD processors, the Intel images were used to create them, and the seemingly small discrepancy is now causing severe incompatibility issues.
We are advising all clients NOT to install SP3 until more information is available. Please let us know if you have questions.
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Sincerely, Introductory Technology Assessment Over 250 local
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Team Ekaru
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