Microsoft have released Service pack 3 for windows XP.

Windows® XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all previously released updates for the operating system. This update also includes a small number of new functionalities, which do not significantly change customers’ experience with the operating system.


Download :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;DisplayLang=en


Documentation :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en

Thanks for sharing. i just downloaded through windows update, noticed a slight improvement in speed don't know if it is due to the new pack or just a coincidence

Yup, been watching this release since it started to see if it's gonna behave or act like all of their other service packs and need the bugs removed. So far, not too many complaints on the tech forums. I always give the new releases a few weeks before even thinking of installing them to make sure they're stable.

I doubt my old machine will survive another Service Pack Patch up. It was born nearly seven years ago, cost a lot of money, and only has 256 ram. The question for me right now is should I or should I not go for SP3.

i havent got this update yet. should i have got it by now?

Ummmm I got it almost a month ago

I loaded it with no issues so far, There is also a Service Pack 1 for Vista, but the regular Windows Update won't do it, you need to go on the Microsoft Update site and search for it.

Well you can scratch what I said about not too many complaints.

Seems this is just as buggy as Service Pack 1 was when it first came out. People are really screaming, so if you haven't downloaded it yet, I'd wait. If you have, and it's running fine, then consider yourself fortunate.

The vista SP messed up my computer.

I've downloaded, but not installed it yet. just a fyi the place I downloaded from mentioned an issue with SP3 and AMD. the notes I copied from the site:
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If you have an AMD processor and are considering upgrading to Windows Service Pack 3 (SP3), then it is important that you apply this patch before SP3. Otherwise, your system may possibly get stuck in a loop of reboots that will stop Windows XP from starting.

On a technical level, there is a problem with the way that the System Preparation (Sysprep) image is created. According to one explanation offered by Microsoft "The problem may occur if the original Sysprep image for Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1), for Windows XP SP2, or for Windows XP SP3 is created on a computer that uses an Intel processor and is then deployed on a computer that does not use an Intel processor. In this configuration, the Intel processor driver (Intelppm.sys) may try to load after the computer is upgraded to Windows XP SP2 or to Windows XP SP3. The driver does this because an orphaned registry key remains from the original Sysprep image." In these cases you may also see the following error messages:

A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer...

Technical information:

STOP: 0x0000007E (0xC0000005, [number1], [number2], [number3])
SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED

When Physical Address Extensions (PAE) is enabled, you may receive the following error message: STOP 0x000000FC (ATTEMPTED_EXECUTE_OF_NOEXECUTE_MEMORY)

[number1], [number2] and [number3] listed above will be random, alphanumeric and 10 digits long. However, 0x0000007E and 0xC0000005 will always be present for this type of error. Note 0x0000007E errors have multiple causes, but if it is an AMD processor and you have just installed SP3, there is a good bet that this patch will fix the issue. Ideally the patch should be applied before the Windows XP Service Pack 3.