Have been avoiding and blocking this installation for a while now, but I let my cousin borrow computer and tadaaaaaaa it's installed. It affects the most basic programs, I have a hard time opening yahoo, it tells me upgrade to IE8 and I dont want to.

Looked online for ways to remove SP3 but shows 4:
1- using the add or remove pgms in control panel
*doesn't show
2- use the hidden (*) folder
* couldnt find
3- system restore
* not sure when sp3 was installed
4 - recovery console
* dont have windows cd

any suggestions???? want this removed

That's odd that it's not showing up under Add/Remove. I've always seen it there. Maybe you should click "Show Updates" near the top and see if it shows up then.

still doesn't show

any other ideas?

Format your PC and start from scratch?!

dont have the know-how nor the windows disk anymore

any idea why it doesnt show on add/remove programs? if I ck the system (control panel) it says windows xp sp3

I'm not sure, why was sp3 installed? Was someone trying to network? From what i understand sp3 is for updating networked systems. I'll see what i can dig up.

Let my cousin borrow and when I got it back it was installed.

it affects the most basic of all programs for ex, yahoo, tells me to update from IE7 to IE8 (don't want to)

now can't find a way to remove SP3

From what i can find, if the removal tools above do not work, then you need to download the windows malicious software removal tool, once you have done that, and the problem is cleared, you can opt to remove the tool through add/remove.

*note* This is just what i have read, and i have never actually experienced this problem. It seems solid.

*edit* oops, might help if i include the link. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/default.aspx

Presently use NOD32 as my AV software no reports of any viruses.

Would this malicious software removal tool help me remove windows xp service pack 3?

I am certain she just connected computer and hit the automatic updates (which I had set to not download)

If the version installed was non licensed, then yes, it should. If the normal functions aren't working, then something is wrong. Since we don't know which version was installed, it's probably the easiest thing to try. I don't want to give you instructions here, that could damage your system. If this tool doesn't work, you can simply uninstall.

had windows XP SP2 installed and had no problems with it - but now can't remove this SP3 any other ideas??? it's driving me madddddddd

If you go to add/remove and click on show updates it is not there?

Once you remove it, you will probably have to go back and get the security updates.

Also, if you are not quite sure if you have it or not, go to start, run and type in winver.....a box will pop up and tell you what you have.

Good luck!

Have backup / recovery turned on? Try rolling back to a restore point.

All programs> accessories> system tools> system restore.


Then again why would you remove this? It patches all sorts of potential security problems on your pc (?)

Some people in other forums have said that it slows their PC down. I haven't had any problems with SP3 personally so I can't vouch for that. According to Microsoft, it's not supposed to have a big impact on your computer so who knows?

Is you don't know when it was installed it shouldn't matter in the Recovery option you either look for a date until you see the date it was installed or worse comes to worse go back to the date closest to the day before you lent it to your friend.

In each restore points dates it tells you what was installed for the system to create a restore point.

Update was installed on 4/2/09, if I do a system restore program will still be installed.

SP3 does not show up at all under add/remove pgms - should I restore to when SP3 was installed and remove it that way?

I can tell you since having this SP3 installed a few of my programs are lagging and not working normally.

from the windows site
Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) contains important updates for Windows XP. After you install Windows XP SP3, a hardware device or an installed program may work differently. Therefore, you may want to uninstall Windows XP SP3 as a troubleshooting step. This article describes how to remove Windows XP SP3 from your computer.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950249

Just use a restore point that's before 4/2/09 or the one that says when it was installed, I know it creates a system restore point before it installs, especially if it was from automatic updates. So after you do this you should turn off automatic updates (start - control panel - automatic updates - click off. But you should get IE 8 regardless it's much better as it has tabbed browsing or switch to mozilla :D Good luck

Thanks may not have a choice as I am unable to uninstall SP3.

I normally use Mozilla, so not interested in updating IE.

thank you all