I have another question. I have Service Pack 2 and SP3 files saved. If I wanted to install XP on a clean machine I wonder how one gets all the old patches? Will MS continue to provide access to those??
If I were you I would get all that done now.
Try to have your machine clean and barebones, and locked up tight before the deadline. After you think you have most of the vital updates from the update center, keep visiting it and running custom update search. Download a free program to update all your drivers, Avast or glary utilities will check for updates, for your software.
If you do a new install, it will take a while to get everything up to the newest current level, the updates unlock and lead to new updates, it can take several days to be completely good to go.