Is WIndows XP SP3 stable now?

[ztirffritz]

I used a Vista machine for a week last week while I worked on my Linux box. I could not believe how badly it interfered with my work. It took sooo long just to start applications that I often walked away for a coffee while it loaded. Sometimes it would pop up a message asking for permission to do some task, but the pop-up would be at the bottom of a stack of other windows. I'd sit there patiently waiting then notice a new item in the taskbar and click on it. The whole screen would go black for a few seconds then it would do the permit/allow routine.

[jepinto]

I wouldn't recommend it. After an update, there were numerous messages suggesting I chkdsk, did so, then a restart then a BSOD with a message about a missing .dll that goes too quickly to read.

Narrowing it down to a .net install, so maybe I shoulda read this
Steps to take before you install

Hal says he can't do that; Error messages and workarounds.

And of course the install disk has gone missing ()