Windows XP SP3 Automatic Update

Ever wondered about Windows XP SP3's fate? After it became officially available, it quickly disappeared in the shadows, and - if you ask me - I wasn't even curious about it. After all, my Windows XP SP2 runs perfectly, so why bother with SP3? Looking back, here's what we were saying about the topic in late April: "Microsoft announced that Windows XP SP3 has been released to manufacturing, and will arrive on the 29th of April, as a standalone installer. After that, SP3 will also become available as an automatic update, but that is expected to happen in June." So much for Microsoft's delays!


As far as I remember, June has ended over a month ago, and I didn't see any Automatic Update message popping up announcing me about Windows XP SP3. I am sure you didn't see anything, either. Finally, the wait is over - once again - and Windows XP SP3 is available as a "Recommended" update. If you didn't get it manually until now, and Windows Update is set to "automatically download recommended updates for my computer and install them," SP3 will crawl into your computer one of these days.

If you want to avoid SP3, as I will(don't ask me why, it should be obvious I don't trust it yet), and keep your current Windows Update settings, just grab the Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit, and all should be fine.

The summary of this last Windows XP service pack is this - the final build, labeled 5512, is known to include 1,073 fixes, including every security update, out-of-band release, and hotfix released since Windows XP SP2 became available on Microsoft's servers, in August 2004.

If you're running SP3 already, please drop your feedback below, I am really curious!