Windows XP service pack 3 will be available on Tuesday, April 29--if you
know anyone in the tech field, they may have access to the update now, and
they can put SP3 on a cd for you (was made available to Tech field
yesterday)
If you can wait that long, install and connect to Windows Update and install
SP3, this way you can avoid updating updates. (If you install SP2, you will
find yourself running updates, then running updates to updates, then updates
to updates to updates--or so it seems
).
Following that, you will still need to update
a) drivers
b) recommended updates if desired
If you cannot wait that long, the fastest method I have tried is to use the
Offline-update tool from Heiss Security
http://www.heise.de/ct/projekte/offlineupdate/download_uk.shtml
You download the tool, load it, and have it create an update CD for you,
burn the iso image to a cd/dvd and then insert in new machine. Then run the
tool with the autorestart setting.
Windows will start the install, create a separate user account for update,
install updates, reboot several times, then delete the update user account
and put you back at your desktop