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Bugs and Fixes Update

Microsoft made a mistake: The company says it didn't fix general performance problems relating to XP's service pack.

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After our July issue went to press, Microsoft admitted that the patch information it provided was incorrect. Microsoft pointed readers to two different fixes for Service Pack 1 performance lags--Q811493 and Q815411--but neither patch took care of the problem. Worse, Microsoft now says that it doesn't plan to fix the situation at all.

If you installed either one of these patches, your PC will not be affected, says Microsoft.

If you are looking for information about the Q811493 patch, Microsoft says that this patch does not take care of general Service Pack 1 performance problems, and that it is actually a revised security patch. Check out Microsoft's bulletin and click the Technical Details tab for the company's explanation.

If you need information about the second patch, the Q815411 "hotfix," Microsoft says that this patch is aimed at a small set of corporate customers, and that the hotfix is not a general-purpose fix for PC slowdowns. (Hotfixes are quick patches that Microsoft creates when users run into specific problems.) See Microsoft's Knowledge Base article describing the problem.

Next Step?

If you are experiencing severe performance problems with your XP system (since installing SP1), the only thing you can do is uninstall the service pack. Although this is rather extreme, some users have tried this--and gotten performance back. Microsoft has posted some notes about removing SP1.

The company does not recommend uninstalling SP1. Even though you won't need SP1 to obtain future patches, generally speaking, some updates (known as quick-fix engineering updates) do require SP1.

PC World continues to receive complaints about computers that became sluggish as a result of SP1, but Microsoft doesn't believe that the problem deserves a patch.

"[We've] not received broad general feedback about performance issues with SP1," reports Greg Sullivan, lead product manager with Microsoft's Windows group. "Therefore, [we're] not currently developing a widely applicable patch."

Microsoft's site doesn't offer an easy way to submit a complaint. If you are still dealing with performance snags related to XP's Service Pack 1, send your complaints to bugs@pcworld.com.

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