Howto : Slipstreaming Office XP

If you're like me; i.e., you're not the brightest bulb in the room, you're likely the type who is constantly reinstalling your OS and applications on your PC. The obvious solution is to not install flakey software, or to create disk images. I actually do the latter, but sometimes I like to reinstall from scratch. Other than the hassle of reinstalling applications and stuff, the number two hassle is patches, be it driver or application updates.

For those of you running Office XP, you're probably aware, or at least you should be, that Microsoft has released Service Pack 1. For me, this patch solved more problems than it created, so in my opinion, this is a must have patch. It's available for download, and you can choose to download the full 17MB patch, or simply use the the Office Update Page. For those of you on dial-up, you can order the sevice pack on CD for free in the US and Canada. Finally, there is another downloadable, which is the Administrative Update. It's a big one, 39.1MB, but it will update any version of Office XP you may have...