# Fuck Service Pack 3! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 11, 2008, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901 "2008-05-11T07:34:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901/41 "2008-05-11T22:10:46Z")
Classy. Golf claps. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901/42 "2008-05-11T22:11:12Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] I laughed. Do jokes have to pass a moderator quality control test? [/QUOTE] Honestly, you actually _laughed_? As in, made an audible chuckling noise? At that? All mod issues aside, I really can’t imagine anything much less likely to make anyone, anywhere laugh than a “get linux!” response to a thread about problems with Windows. It might actually be the least funny thing there is. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveroptic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiveroptic/32/8257_2.png) [@Fiveroptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveroptic)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901/43 "2008-05-11T22:23:55Z")
Well, to be fair, the OP _did_ set the joke up with this: [QUOTE=Darkhold] Oh and the first person who says “Get a Mac” or anything along those lines I’ll personally come over and take a chainsaw to their computer. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901/44 "2008-05-11T22:27:38Z")
What made it funny to me was that the OP had threatened violence upon the computer of the _first_ person to make a similar comment, which considering the forum practically assures that sooner or later someone was going to do it. Sure enough, someone did, the OP responded, and then another person did it less than an hour later. I’m also curious as to why **Giraffe** thought **put down the sabre** ’s post was trolling, but not **mswas** ’s post. _and I see someone has already made my first observation_ ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901/45 "2008-05-11T22:47:25Z")
[QUOTE=LurkMeister] I’m also curious as to why **Giraffe** thought **put down the sabre** ’s post was trolling, but not **mswas** ’s post. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Giraffe] No, I’m pretty sure jokes are supposed to be funny. [/QUOTE] Cuz mine had the funny addition of ‘Thunderdome’. 😉 Thunderdome funny, “Switch to Linux”, not funny. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901/46 "2008-05-12T01:19:10Z")
[QUOTE=Bosstone] I cannot get a reliable internet connection despite having one of the most compatible wireless **dongles** available. [/QUOTE] (Bolding mine). I just want to say the word ‘dongle’ cracks me up. I think I know what it is, but I’m always curious if it’s anything like a dingle. Dingle-dongle! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901/47 "2008-05-12T03:44:09Z")
I dunno, it seemed kind of sarcasto-ironic to me. I say that because it’s always what I hear whenever I complain about my computer’s latest hiccup. I don’t think **pdts** meant it seriously, because then I’d be hearing about how well her install of Debian/Red Hat/Whatever the hell else had worked SO well and it had only taken eleventy million hours for her to set up a simple game to play on it and arg arg arg arg ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901/48 "2008-05-12T05:26:12Z")
[QUOTE=E-Sabbath] Tried using ndiswrapper and the windows drivers instead? … also, are you sure your ram is okay? That sounds like dodgy ram symptoms to me. [/QUOTE] I don’t want to hijack a perfectly good Windows rant 😃 but yeah, I’ve wrestled with ndiswrapper. I’m pretty sure it’s not necessarily RAM problems, as I’ve done some research and encountered other folks with the same issues. I think it’s a weird problem with my version of X and my version of Firefox, although the PDF issue eludes me. I intend to switch up to the new Ubuntu after I get back from my trip this week, so we’ll see how that goes. If I’m still having problems I’ll poke at the RAM. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901/49 "2008-05-12T05:29:08Z")
[QUOTE=Giraffe] …It might actually be the least funny thing there is. [/QUOTE] Seen Dennis Miller lately? ---
**Author:** ![put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/put_down_the_sabre)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901/50 "2008-05-12T05:45:50Z")
It was a joke, and it was at least _meant_ to be funny, in light of the OP’s threat. pdts ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901/51 "2008-05-12T06:23:04Z")
[QUOTE=mhendo] I sometimes wonder whether some people who switch to Mac and get all smug about how great it is just didn’t know how to use Windows, because this is yet another example of a Mac “benefit” that can easily be applied to Windows. All it requires is clicking a single button to set Automatic Updates to “Notify me but don’t automatically download or install them.” [/QUOTE] IOW, you have to tell Windows not to annoy you, where Macs just don’t annoy you to begin with? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901/52 "2008-05-12T06:50:54Z")
[QUOTE=Giraffe] No, I’m pretty sure jokes are supposed to be funny. [/QUOTE] They are, and I agree- that wasn’t funny. But perhaps it was meant to be. 😕 However, that post was by a Guest and we really don’t know how he meant it. Maybe if was a troll, maybe it was meant as a joke. Given the context, I read it as a troll. However, since we don’t know this dude, maybe he meant it as a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Amblydoper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@Amblydoper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amblydoper)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901/53 "2008-05-12T10:17:52Z")
[QUOTE=mhendo] I sometimes wonder whether some people who switch to Mac and get all smug about how great it is just didn’t know how to use Windows, because this is yet another example of a Mac “benefit” that can easily be applied to Windows. [/QUOTE] Smug Mac user checking in… I was a windows user up until last year. I ran Win 2k, because it was rock solid. I ran into one problem after about 2 years ([command.com](http://command.com) stopped working, WTF?..) and my first of 2 reinstalls (in 6 years) fixed that (the other was a routine motherboard upgrade). I had up-time calculated in months. I only turned the thing off when a driver install required a reboot, or I was leaving town. I had it customized and tricked out to my liking. It was sweet. All the bitching I heard about XP when it first came out kept me away from upgrading, and I am glad I never did. Vista seemed to be worse. The new Windows OSes are bloated, in my opinion. When rumors started floating around about Microsoft dropping support for Win2k, I looked into other options. I failed at Linux many times (and it failed me) and I was not in a place to “play” with it again, or something else like Ubuntu. Mac OSX looked attractive. So, I got a MacBook, installed Parallels to run Win2K, and planned to use it as a portable extension to my Windows desktop. But I fell in love with OSX. I ran parallels once. Within a month, my desktop moved into the closet, and the laptop was my primary machine… Until February, when my 2nd Mac (a Quad-2.8ghz MacPro) arrived. The OSX user experience is more friendly then Windows, but what about stability? Win2k wins, hands down. At first, the laptop was fickle, but it has settled into a groove. The MacPro is pretty solid, but I can’t say if it will achieve those 6-month long up-times I was used to. So, to answer your question, Yes, as a Smug Mac User, I know how to make Windows my bitch, but I prefer the usability of OSX. It is very intuitive… all the buttons and features are exactly where you expect them to be, and everything does exactly what you expect it to do. I am not going to seriously advise everyone to “get a Mac,” because I don’t think it’s the best option for everyone. But I am going to tell everyone to “get a Mac,” as a smart-ass remark when when they bitch about Microsoft’s latest blunder, because you don’t have to put up with that shit with a Mac. Oh, and I am not implying that Macs don’t have their own problems (they do), but the problem we are discussing here is something that Apple Computers will never suffer from. This is a case of a small number of components out of a collection of millions that conflict with the OS. Apple minimizes the number of compatible components so they don’t have to test so many different hardware configurations, and a fuck-up like this wouldn’t have slipped through the cracks. So… Buy a Mac! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901/54 "2008-05-12T10:47:00Z")
FWIW, I thought it was a joke (the nagging repetition gave it away), and yes, I chuckled sub-audibly. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901/55 "2008-05-12T12:16:52Z")
[QUOTE=Giraffe] **put down the sabre** , this is hard to read as anything other than trying to bait someone into an argument, i.e. trolling. This is a warning to knock it off. [/QUOTE] Maybe we should put up a sticky warning that in the Pit (this is the Pit, right?) you may call somebody a flaming shitstained cockbucket trolly troll-pants, but you may not mock their OS of choice if the OP has politely requested restraint. Edited: On preview I see this has been retracted. That’s good. But if you think I’m passing up an opportunity to say “flaming shitstained cockbucket trolly troll-pants”, you’re sadly mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901/56 "2008-05-12T15:44:15Z")
I thought it was a joke, too. I didn’t laugh. I thought it was a fairly lame ass joke. But, given that my own jokes on this board seldom get even so much as a single snort, I figure I can survive a bad joke OK. Trolling is a much different beast. However, since trolling only activates my \ reflex, I really don’t much care about that either. **OOTC** : All my heavy duty computer geek friends use some flavor of Linux. This leads me to believe that using Linux is probably more technoeffort than I want to get into. There are distinct advantages to being a hemi-demi-Luddite. I will change my mind immediately next time Microsoft turns my computer into a paperweight. Tris ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901/57 "2008-05-12T15:54:14Z")
**CoG888** Actually the uptimes are more due to the fact that it’s a laptop, as opposed to the OS. You can leave a desktop with long uptimes as well. The laptop can tend to overheat, particularly if you are burning a CD. My biggest bitch about my macbook is that sometimes it doesn’t come out of sleep properly. ---
**Author:** ![Amblydoper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@Amblydoper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amblydoper)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901/58 "2008-05-12T21:45:59Z")
I was talking about my MacPro’s up time… I have only had it for 3 months, so I can’t say if I am going to get 6 months of up time yet. The MacBook gets turned on and off regularly. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901/59 "2008-05-13T07:46:28Z")
_Windows?_ Are people still using that? ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901/60 "2008-05-13T16:21:14Z")
Just found an article [HERE](http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950249/en-us) that tells how to remove SP3 using the recovery console on a Windows XP installation disk. I had the same problems as the OP. My PC after installing SP3 did a continuous booting and rebooting, even in safe mode. These instructions worked flawlessly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-service-pack-3/448901.md?page=4)