MP3 player and versions of windows...

[madcows]

Okay - stupid question alert here.
I've just bought a Creative Zen - first time I've had an MP3 player so all completely new to me.
Plugged it in, getting very excited. Just as it started doing its setting up thingy, up popped a window saying that I need to upgrade to Windows XP Service Pack 2 or later. Damn. I've got Windows XP professional, which we got when we bought the thing (2003). So the question is - can I upgrade without spending a fortune? How do I go about it? Do I risk messing up all my settings and everything... wchih I just can't face.
Any advice or thoughts much appreciated!
thanks,
madcows

Oh - thanks for that! Next question, will it change any of my settings (email etc)... I don't want have to re-do all that, as took me ages to get it set so I (and dh) could both receive work and non-work emails.
thanks,
madcows

Service Pack 3 is current. It sounds like you're a long way behind on your patches ad updates. I do recommend making sure you're up to date or your machine will be even more insecure than usual.

Just run Windows update. It should be on your start menu somewhere.

Now you're getting me worried. We just use the machine... We have Norton, which I thought kept it all safe.
Going back to my earlier question (which might be so obvious !) will updating it affect any of the settings (for email, esp.)?
thanks!

Please....anyone?!

Norton is helpful, so is keeping the patches up to date.

Updating it to SP3 is unlikely to affect the settings. It's possible that some of the default settings might be altered to improve security, but you are unlikely to lose anything.

Best practice is to back up before a major change like applying a service pack, just in case, but you should be backing up anyway.

To keep it up to date you should install Windows Update service. It can be set up to check for updates and download them automatically. You it set up to automatically download critical updates, but ask before actually installing them.

THanks for that! I think we need to a bit of a sort out. A proper back up (been a bit remiss on that front recently!) and then update to SP3... then I should probably install the Windows update thingy. (My only excuse is we had dial up only until a few months ago... and were hopelessly behind the times!)
Thanks again... no doubt I'll be back with more questions when I get around to doing it!
madcows