http://download.microsoft.com/download/win...N-US/w2ksp3.exe

Windows 2000 SP3, finally!

Yeah, finally. Thanks M$

A very much needed service pack

Make sure you download the right version, for instance, here's the german one: http://download.microsoft.com/download/win...5/DE/w2ksp3.exe

(a Windows XP user )

Why I should download a German version?

Just in case your original installation was a German version...

Huh... Maybe because you're German?

Translated help text may be sometime useful (but only sometimes, it's very simple
technical English). But all idiomatic expressions are also translated and then
alphabetically sorted.

This is nearly perfect information hiding technology :-P

Yey for microsoft. (or not, or something)

Only english and german..

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/downl...sp3/sp3lang.asp

Also make sure that you read the EULA. Of particular interest might be this section:

"The OS Product or OS Components contain components that enable and facilitate the use of certain Internet-based services. You acknowledge and agree that Microsoft may automatically check the version of the OS Product and/or its components that you are utilizing and may provide upgrades or fixes to the OS Product that will be automatically downloaded to your computer."

Personally, I'm waiting for others to be the guinea pigs on potential stability and crash issues, and for a third-party description of changes. SP3 is a significant investment from the dial-up perspective

It installs the automatic windows update checking feature - just disable it the first time it runs you though the wizard. Or, go into services and set it to disabled or manual.

Klemm IST German.

That's what ZoneAlarm is for. I find that a lot of applications want to access my internet connection without my knowledge. The firewall keeps 'em in line.

Windows Update runs using Internet Explorer's engine. Unless you have IE blocked in your firewall, ZoneAlarm won't be able to block the connection.

Umm, it should be a separate application called "Windows Update AutoUpdate Client". The program is listed as wuauclt.exe in ZoneAlarm and is separate from IE. But if you go to the WindowsUpdate site directly, yes, the updating function does use IE.

damnit... i just installed win2k with sp2 + security rollup packages + msi v2 on like 10 machine in the office and now sp3 comes out

Don't be hasty in upgrading again, tangent... like the saying goes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"

this is especially true in the business world -- unless your systems are always crashing, and you know that the service pack will fix it for sure, then just leave it alone. No reason to upgrade. You should already have all the security updates that sp3 offers anyway.

The last full service pack I've installed is SP2. However, looking at my Add/Remove Program list, I have 12 entries listed as pre-SP3 hotfixes and even one pre-SP4 hotfix. I have no need to install the full SP3 and swallow that new EULA bitter pill.

But SP3 doesn't have just 12 or 13 fixes... it has more than 900.