Problem is, with SP3, you will probably get a piggyback load of VISTA snoopware also.  Some of you might be interested in Googling :   "Intel vPro White Paper" on its new Intel vPro (vista-ready fritz-chip) that is now being sold in Dell and HP computers.  It's a sales paper geared toward corporations, but this is the same chip that is now being sold on vista-ready mobos by Dell & HP.  The third item in the googled list is Intel's White Paper in pdf format.  They pitch it - spin it - as "security", but it's primarily security for the vendor - against you (trying to control your own PC).

A little excerpt -This is the first paragraph on page 6 of Intel's pdf...

"Users (that is me and you), ....can often disable [remote] management agents (which I have done on my PC), so systems can't be IDENTIFIED and BROUGHT BACK INTO COMPLIANCE."   "PCs that are powered down or inoperative can't be located by software-only solutions."  (hence the chip)

BUT, all is not lost, this vista-ready chip can....   turn your PC ON in "off-hours" (when you are asleep) and "read event logs, check BIOS settings, inventory your hardware and data, check the status of [remote] management agents anytime."  It can reinstall any remote management software that you have disabled and then VISTA can disable or delete applications and data files, and after its attack, can return the PC to its prior state (off, hibernate, etc.).

"Even when an Intel vPro technology PC is powered off, the PCs management engine is not turned off as long as the system is plugged into a power source..."  But don't take my quotes for it, read it yourself from Intel's White Paper - the horse's mouth, so to speak.  

Still want VISTA???  A reinstallable backup of XP SP1 and XP SP2 is a really good idea.  So is a spare non-vista-ready mobo without a fritz chip, while they are all still available.  I believe that Windows Live and XP SP3 are Microsoft trying to get as much of the "VISTA-effect " on XP machines as it can.

AnnaSummers

P.S. A lot of the "Windows Live" stuff can do the same dirty deeds on XP that VISTA can do natively.
Myself, I'm heavy into research on the ramifications of, and preparations for,  switching to Linux (Ubuntu).

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