Everyone has been talking about SP1 for Windows XP since we first posted about it over a week ago, being that Microsoft had already created a directory on its "public" ftp with a number of Hot-fixes. People had tried to download and run them only to find that the hotfixes are password protected. Let me make one thing clear: There is NO SP1 YET! It is common practise for Microsoft to start working on patches or Hotfixes after "Gold code" these will be included in the first Service Pack, but that is far from being publically available as Service Packs regulary contain 100"s of fixes, not 30 or so which are now in the directory. You do not need it, yet.
I personally would strongly recommend against people installing "any old patch" as things may get installed that do not need, Service Packs are made to update components that are being used or are system critical, who for example will want a PIII patch when running XP on an AMD?
The boys over at WinFuture DID install the 15mb rar file including all the hotfixes and found it to increase system performance by 1 (yes thats ONE) 3Dmark2001 Thats from 2334 marks to 2335. Ok it is performance, but at what cost?