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Need some diversion after the last present is opened and the last piece of candy from the stockings have been devoured? Give Windows XP SP3 RC a try. It's a 336MB download.
SP3 rolls up all previously-released updates into a single package. Microsoft's documentation for SP3 highlights just a few you might have missed (but your system administrator probably didn't):
Other bundled updates include changes to IPSec virtual private networking and a new service for logging into domains (DIMS).
Windows XP SP3 includes both SP1 and SP2, so if your system's been under a rock and missed SP2 (or if you're doing a fresh install from an original Windows XP or XP SP1 disc), you can install SP3 anyway. However, you must have SP1 installed to use SP3.
SP3 adds the following new features:
Microsoft's been warning XP SP2 users that SP3 wasn't going to include a lot of new functionality - and they were right. Most of the changes in SP3 are not going to be visible to end-users.
Windows XP SP3 is for 32-bit versions of Windows only. x64 users should install Windows Server 2003 SP2, which has been around awhile (over a year, in fact).
As usual, Microsoft has lots of documentation you can grab, including
Just a reminder: this is the Release Candidate, so it's a step better than beta, but it's not quite ready for prime time. You might want to try it on the experimental box, not your deathmatch special.
Comments are closed on this article
Abstrakt
December 30, 2007 at 12:39am
but does it include the horrid internet explorer 7 ??? I dont want that trash installed on my hard drive.
marudd2002
December 28, 2007 at 4:56pm
SP3 includes everything from SP1 AND SP2. That's how service packs work. Period. See http://tinyurl.com/2pdoaj for more detail.
Marcus_Soperus
December 29, 2007 at 8:08am
...the article's now been updated. Update to SP3 RC from any Windows XP release, old or recent.
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It's amazing how illogical a business built on binary logic can be.
marudd2002
December 04, 2008 at 5:44pm
Newly updated correction since your article first hit MaximumPC.com
the following is a direct paste from http://www.winsupersite.com/faq/xp_sp3.asp
Q: Does SP3 include everything from SP1 and SP2 or do I need to install those first?
A: Though XP SP3 aggregates all of the previously-released XP fixes, Microsoft now says
that you will need to install at least SP1 on XP before installing SP3.
The company recommends installing SP2 first as well, though that is not
required.
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