New Machine arriving today

[voltron7]

Hello, My new system is arriving today and i wanted to see if anyone has strong recommendations of a few things...

Here is a summary:

Core2 Duo E6700
4 GB RAM
WinXPPro x64
Nvidia GeForce 8800GTS 640M

Mainly I was just hoping to know if
I should install the XP service packs, updates, etc. usually I try to keep the OS "updated" but I feel that I've heard of issues with x64 service packs and Max 9 64 bit? Well, anyways, just looking for any heads-up of things to definitely do or not to do. Sorry if this doesn't make sense, I just want to start this machine off on the right track.

Thanks for reading,
Best regards, JR

[joconnell]

I've kept auto updates turned off ever since service pack 2 brought up an issue with direct x installing and max not working and an auto update corrupted .max files - Spyware aside I'm just using the base os and a firewall. I'm going to go up to x64 and leave it along once max works - you can take a machine out so easily and it can sometimes take it down for a day - once you're up making pretty pictures leave well enough alone

[voltron7]

i would have done similar but my new one arrived with x64 sp2...max seems to work alright but I'm waiting for my vray auth to come thru before I try vray on it...
Thanks for the good suggestions!