Service Pack 3 for Windows XP released

UPDATE: DUE TO INSTALLATION ISSUES WITH WINDOWS XP SERVICE PACK 3 ON HP/COMPAQ COMPUTERS WITH AMD PROCESSORS – I DO NOT RECOMMEND MANUALLY INSTALLING IT AT THIS TIME. AT SOME POINT IT WILL LIKELY AUTOMATICALLY INSTALL AS PART OF OTHER WINDOWS CRITICAL UPDATES, AFTER A PATCH HAS BEEN APPLIED.

May 7 – In the past week Microsoft has released Service Pack 3 for Windows XP which is primarily a cumulative update of security and reliability patches that have been released since Service Pack 2 was released in August 2004. Service Pack 3 is currently available as a manual installation from Microsoft’s windowsupdate.com website, or it may have already been downloaded onto your computer which can be manually installed by clicking on the yellow shield and exclamation point icon which is in the system tray by your clock in the lower-right corner of your screen. If you hover your mouse over the yellow shield, a balloon pop-up will say “Updates are ready for your computer.”

Installation typically takes under 30 minutes. If you decide to put off installing Service Pack 3 manually, it will likely be automatically installed within the next few months. At this time I suggest most users wait until it is automatically installed.

Below is a description of Service Pack 3 from Microsoft…

Windows XP SP3 combines all previously released performance, security, and stability updates. It also provides a limited number of new and enhanced functionalities, although it does not significantly change the Windows XP experience or bring functionality from newer versions of Windows to Windows XP. The goals of Windows XP SP3 are to:

• Provide a new baseline for customers still deploying Windows XP, to help them avoid the inconvenience of applying individual updates.

• Fill gaps in the updates users might have missed by declining individual updates when using Automatic Updates, and to deliver updates not made available through Windows Update.

Windows Vista provides the most advanced security and management capability, but for PCs that cannot be upgraded to Windows Vista right now, Windows XP SP3 ensures these PCs have all available updates and allows these PCs to leverage some new Windows Server 2008 capabilities, such as Network Access Protection (NAP).

If you’re interested in a more detailed description about the changes in Service Pack 3 you can read Microsoft’s PDF file Overview of Windows XP Service Pack 3.