Windows 2000 Service Pack ---> 3 <--- Available

[Splash]

I'm back from vacation this morning just to discover that SP-3 for Windows 2000 has been made available to download for the privileged few.

This is the real deal containing updates and bug fixes for all Windows 2000 platforms (Workstations, Server, etc.) -- not a beta version.

It's 129 MB in size.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/win2000platform/SP/SP3/NT5/EN-US/w2ksp3.exe


Beat the crowds and download now! It should go "public" this weekend or early next week .

 

[Buck]

Thanks for the tip Gary.

 

[Tea]

Thanks, Splash! And you were nice enough to let me know just after I got the cable on. 20KB/sec sure beats 56k.

 

[P5-133XL]

For Cable, You should be getting 100-200KB/s not 20KB/s. 20KB/s is only about 4x modem speed. My history with MS is that they are capable of sustaining 150KB/s with my cable modem.

 

[timwhit]

I'm getting about 100K/s, thanks for the tip Gary. Now I need to go find out what it fixes.

 

[Jake the Dog]

or you can get it at 800k steady like it did. we have a t1 here at work. i'll check it from optus cable tonight though.

 

[SteveC]

I got 450KB/s with my cable modem. Thanks for the link.

Steve

 

[Cliptin]

or you can get it at 800k steady like it did. we have a t1 here at work. i'll check it from optus cable tonight though.

My 2000 boxes will sustain 170-175 thorough ADSL. I have to use a download manager and hit multiple servers with the same file for that though.

 

[P5-133XL]

or you can get it at 800k steady like it did. we have a t1 here at work. i'll check it from optus cable tonight though.

You have better than T1 service. A T1 transmits/receives at 1.544Mb/s or at a maximum of 193 KB/s

My AT&T cable modem caps my speed at 1.5Mb/s or about 190MB/s. Most file servers do not have the bandwidth to ship out data at that spped. However, MS has invested in a tremoundous amount of bandwidth and can.

Tea, You to should be able to get 100-200KB/s from your cable modem unless they are over-subscribing the service, capping the speed, have poor noise control in their cable system, or have done a poor install. There are other potential reasons too, but those are the most obvious.

 

[James]

For Cable, You should be getting 100-200KB/s not 20KB/s. 20KB/s is only about 4x modem speed. My history with MS is that they are capable of sustaining 150KB/s with my cable modem.

Mark, Australian cable (and ADSL) suppliers simply do not work like that. The cost of hauling bits across the Pacific is such that they cap throughput and also cap downloads. Remember that Australia is about the same land area as the US with a 14X smaller population. Building an undersea cable from here to the US costs about USD2bn, and once you get there US carriers charge you for the privilege of connecting to them (of course, they expect you to carry their bits out to Australia for free).

To get 150KB/s you'd need a link speed somewhere between T1 and E1. An uncapped 2M (E1) link here costs USD6K per month, plus the cost of the E1 local tail. Perhaps you can start to understand how the economics of Internet access in Australia work now?

 

[Cliptin]

However, MS has invested in a tremoundous amount of bandwidth and can.

I see what you mean now, Mark. I also get a steady 150.

 

[P5-133XL]

To get 150KB/s you'd need a link speed somewhere between T1 and E1. An uncapped 2M (E1) link here costs USD6K per month, plus the cost of the E1 local tail. Perhaps you can start to understand how the economics of Internet access in Australia work now?

In Salem, Oregon USA it costs around $800-$1000+ USD/month plus the cost of the local tail for a T1 (depending on the provider). E1 is the European 2Mb/s standard and I'm not even sure that any of the WAN providers locally even offer E1 service. Cable @$40/month is a great bargin, considering the bandwidth and even business level ADSL @$200/month isn't bad compared to T1+ or ISDN (per minute charges). Unfortunately cable operators put restrictions on their service that effectively eliminates business use (capping upload speed at 128Kb and not permitting the serving of data)

I no not how much Tannin paid for his cable, but I assumed that the cable operators would price it according to their costs, rather than crippling the speed and making it useless for serving data.

 

[Mercutio]

You all suck. I just want you to know that. I started downloading it and PEAKED at 1.9k/s.

Oh well. MS will send it to me on a CD in a couple weeks anyway.

 

[timwhit]

Merc, why don't you go to your local library and download it there? And put it on a zip disk or whatever else is easy.

Most medium sized libraries have DSL or T1 nowadays.

 

[P5-133XL]

Merc,

If no cable/DSL then you'll have to deal with ISDN, FR, or T1+. Hey, you are getting a good deal on rent, lets blow the budget and get yourself a T1/T3 (T3=30xT1) and in a few months you'll be the envy of everyone here.

 

[Mercutio]

I asked about a 512k fractional line last year (only $380 a month from SBC!) and the super told me "no". Also "no" on Primary and basic ISDN (ISDN is good here - we don't pay per-minute in Indiana). Didn't ask about Frame relay and I don't have the equipment for that anyway.

The place where I teach has attbi.com service that works better than half the time, so maybe I'll be able to get it there.

At T3 locally costs about $14K a month. Which doesn't seem bad at all.

 

[CougTek]

This is great Gary! Thanks a lot. 35% downloaded so far and eagerly waiting to install it.

I hope you enjoyed your vacation. Be sure we are all please by your return.

 

[The JoJo]

Thanks Gary! Downloading at work, 2MB line, 222KB/s at the moment.

 

[Tea]

OK, download fine, installed no problem. What's new? Is there a readme?

 

[Tea]

OK, I did a quick STFW and have discovered a little. It adds a couple of things to let you specify your default web browser, emailer, and so on - which seems useless, anyone reading this forum will have done this manually long since - and various security and stability things, plus one to watch: it defaults to automatically downloading all updates.

So, if like me you don't feel comfortable with the idea of Microsoft deciding if they want to change files on your computer, first thing you should do after installing SP3 is go into the control panel and switch this off.

I'm not anti-updates (hey, I just installed SP3 didn't I?) but for me Rule One is "me human, you computer - me boss". (Well, a simian in my case, but you know what I mean.) A girl likes to be asked first.

What else should I know?

 

[Handruin]

I';m guessing MS included all the hot fixes since SP 2 into SP3 right? If that's the case, the last time I printed a list of the hot fixes (about 3+ months ago) there were over 500...

 

[NRG = mc²]

Thanks for the link, Gary. Too bad I'm on metered 56k till beginning of September (I'm visiting my parents in the third world country called Greece - the country where they still don't offer anything more than ISDN, 56k subscription costs $50 for three months, and is payed for by the minute. Whereas India even has cable connection for years now. And then they call it part of Europe! Ha! :evil:

</end of rant>

 

[Mercutio]

Cripes. What does automatic update-downloading do to us poor modem people... or mid-size companies with marginal internet connections?

If nothing else, there's always the DisableWindowsUpdate policy, as crappy as that would be...

 

[Tea]

One assumes that they think everyone is on cable, Mercutio. And trust them. And don't have bandwidth caps. (Hey - I've splashed out to buy myself 2.5GB a month for $75, but if I go over my limit I pay 11c per MB. So the first 2.5GB can cost me anywhere down to 3c per MB, but after that it is almost four times dearer. Every extra bit helps pust me towards that limit. Mind you, if you can afford Microsoft prices, you can probably afford the cable or the ADSL anyway, certainly for W2K which is, at current count, 14 times dearer than the equivalent product was ten years ago (on an inflation adjusted basis).

I make it a general rule to never bother with the hot-fix patches, not even the security ones, because the bottom line is that any machine where I am seriously concerned about security doesn't run any Microsoft software anyway - certainly not their operating system products, or anything with macro capability.

Will there ever be a Service Pack 4 for W2K? Or is this the last one?

 

[Jake the Dog]

or you can get it at 800k steady like it did. we have a t1 here at work. i'll check it from optus cable tonight though.

418k steady as a rock. not bad for cheap aussie cable.

 

[Pradeep]

11.21MB done in 2 hours. God I luv my dial up *blubbers*

 

[Tea]

OK. I found a different update. It's cheesy but sort of cool, in its own weird way. It seems to need Flash. I don't like Flash. Visit it anyway.

Hic!

(What about the address, you fool?)

Oh, yes. The address: http://www.worldstuffups.com/

 

[Cliptin]

OK. I found a different update. It's cheesy but sort of cool, in its own weird way. It seems to need Flash. I don't like Flash. Visit it anyway.

Hic!

(What about the address, you fool?)

Oh, yes. The address: http://www.worldstuffups.com/

That was.... really small.

 

[SYROB]

512KB/SEC...

Any issues with license ?

SYROB

 

[time]

If you use Opera (I think IE has something similar, but Mozilla doesn't), you can zoom the display up by 300-400%.

Windows RG is an oldie but a goodie. I couldn't help but try out everything again. Great satire.

 

[Tea]

I didn't read it. A contract is a binding agreement between two people who have reaced a mutual understanding as to terms and conditions. I neither read nor understood the masses of fine print that they, for some reason best known to themselves, attached to the box and hidden under the "I agree get on with it" radio button. Neither did anyone else, I bet.

Microsoft have my money. They can do as they like with it. I have their product, and I will do as I like with that.

 

[CougTek]

Any issues with license ?

SYROB

I disabled the Background Intelligence blablabla in the Administrative tools -> Component Services -> Service (Local). That and the automatic update service. According to the term in the EULA thing (not too much awared of that stuff), Microsoft has apparently the right to "monitor" every damn computers where its piece of shit software is installed. POS software because that f*****g SP3 ruined my login/out and other startup/shutdown features. I must now press the reset button every time I want to change profile. I wish Bill Gates would be Jewish and Microsoft's headquarter located in Gaza. Blew it! BLEW IT!!

I'll probably have to reformat the boot partition of my hard drive and waste a considerable amount of time eventually instead of quietly letting my box run the F@H like it's supposed to. Someday, I'll have to meet Bill, I really have to meet this guy.

 

[Cliptin]

If you use Opera (I think IE has something similar, but Mozilla doesn't), you can zoom the display up by 300-400%.

I could zoom in, true. But the viewing window stayed the same size. Which might not have been too, too, too bad if the little window had scroll bars. It stayed 1.5" square.

At least tell me what RG stands for.

 

[timwhit]

If anyone is interested in reading all of the things fixed by SP3 (and there are a crapload of them) here is the link.

http://www.activewin.com/win2000/sp3bugs.shtml

 

[time]

But the viewing window stayed the same size. Which might not have been too, too, too bad if the little window had scroll bars. It stayed 1.5" square.

At least tell me what RG stands for.

Like I said, it works with Opera. I guess this means that IE zooming is as stupid as Mozilla's.

RG stands for "Really Good".

 

[Explorer]

...I disabled the Background Intelligence blablabla in the Administrative tools -> Component Services -> Service (Local). That and the automatic update service.

I disabled the automatic updating via the "Automatic Updates" Control Panel, by simply un-checking the "Keep My Computer Up To Date..." setting. I didn't need to do anything with the Background Intelligent Transfer Service because it was not running and set to Manual startup.

So, basically all I did was reboot the system so that it was running fresh, login into the administrator account, install SP-3, wait about 5 minutes for installation to occur, reboot, login to the administrator account once again and turn off automatic updating.

POS software because that f*****g SP3 ruined my login/out and other startup/shutdown features. I must now press the reset button every time I want to change profile.

I've got SP-3 running on over 30-each Win2K Pro workstations and 4 servers running the standard edition of Win2K Server. All those workstations have multiple users (user login profiles) and run a combination of various technical software applications. Since Tuesday morning ~ afternoon, we've had absolutely no problems with the installation of SP-3 -- including when various people login and logout locally.

Before wiping your system, you might want to build a new Default User profile, delete your "old" profiles, and then "recreate" them by back into your new accounts.

Someday, I'll have to meet Bill, I really have to meet this guy.

Well, I'm 2 ahead of you. I've met Mr. Bill twice (both times, a long time ago). 8)

 

[Explorer]

If you use Opera (I think IE has something similar, but Mozilla doesn't), you can zoom the display up by 300-400%.

Yes, you can zoom in and out on any graphic with IE 5 and IE 6, provided that you install the IE Power Tools (they've been around forever it seems).

 

[Explorer]

...At least tell me what RG stands for.

I faintly recall it as a joke that sort of made the rounds when Windows ME came out. Windows RG = Windows Real Good (one that doesn't crash or freeze).

 

[Tea]

I used Opera at 1280 res and didn't have to do anything. It just took up a fixed windows size (about 80% of my screen, so I guess it was 1024 x 768) and made me laugh quite a lot. When I get home, I'll see what happens with IE.

Oh, no I won't. I don't have Flash.But how come it worked with Opera? Huh? My Opera must know that I have Flash installed (which I didn't think I did) but my IE doesn't.

Well, there is only one answer....

Bartender? What do you have on the top shelf? I'd like another one, please.

 

[Bartender]

Bartender? What do you have on the top shelf? I'd like another one, please.

Coming right up your glistening red furriness.

<Let's see, a Microsoft problem . . . we'll make that a Sapphire and Tonic for the young lady>