Look at your install disk, if it's like mine it will have the version of XP Home that comes with SP2 already on it. That would be why you couldn't find it anywhere. MS preloaded it on the disk so it won't pop up on the auto update from the Windows site.
After I installed the new drive and reinstalled XP I just let the automatic update do it's thing but I looked to see what the updates were each time before installing them. When the update for SP3 came along I didn't install it and disabled the auto update for it.
Before I replaced the hard drive I did have SP 3 on the old drive. Now that I am running without it I haven't had any issues at all. Bruce looked at SP3 too and opted to not use it also, saying he didn't see in it that was essential or must have.
It's a pretty big update, I think it's 350 mb if memory serves me correctly so it does eat up a fair amount of space.
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