t e c h i e - t a l k s ::: technology at its best

Microsoft has planned to release its third service pack (SP3) for Windows XP. This is good news for those who do not plan to upgrade to Vista anytime soon or for those who choose to downgrade their Vista to Windows XP (Microsoft provides downgrades for unhappy VISTA users). Windows XP seems to become a “loved” O/S now after the release of Vista and HOPE still lingers for Windows XP users with this service pack release.

The new release labeled as Build 3205, with the filename windowsxp-kb936929-sp3-x86-enu.exe, will be 334.2 MB in size. Taken from Neosmart.net,

Along with the standalone installer redistributables (in English, Japanese, and German), Microsoft also provided the usual release notes and a list of all the hotfixes included in this release. Contrary to popular belief, Windows XP SP3 does ship with all-new features - not just patches and hotfixes, most of them backported from Windows Vista:

• New Windows Product Activation model: no need to enter product key during setup. Thank God for that!
• Network Access Protection modules and policies have been brought to XP after being one of the more-well-received features in Windows Vista. You can read more about NAP here.
• New Microsoft Kernel Mode Cryptographic Module - the Windows XP SP3 kernel now includes an entire module that provides easy access to multiple cryptographic algorithms and is available for use in kernel-mode drivers and services.
• New “Black Hole Router” detection - Windows XP SP3 can detect and protect against rogue routers that are discarding data.

Windows XP service pack 3 will be compatible with all x86 processor Windows environment which includes media centers, start, home and professional versions.