About Service Packs

Windows XP is part of Microsoft's "New Technology" or NT family of operating systems, along with Windows NT, Windows 2000 Professional, and the various flavors of Windows 2000 Server, and Windows Server 2003. These operating systems were designed from the ground up for stability, reliability, and security, and to keep them in tip-top shape, Microsoft releases a constant stream of software updates called Critical Updates, Recommended Updates, and Hotfixes:

• Critical Updates are just that: Fixes for bugs that are so severe or involve such serious security risks that you really have to install them. As you know, XP can automatically download and install these, or at least download and offer to install them, so you don't miss out. You can also find a list of Critical Updates by visiting the Windows Update Web site.

• Recommended Updates are not security fixes, but are updates to accessory programs like Messenger and Media Player, new desktop themes and the like. Recommended Updates are also listed on the Windows Update Web site.

• Hotfixes are bug fixes that affect a small enough group of users that Microsoft doesn't send them out to everyone. Instead, you have to hunt for them by researching the Knowledge Base at support.microsoft.com, or hear about them from Microsoft's Tech Support department. They're not widely advertised because (a) if you're running into a serious-enough problem, you'll go looking for the solution, and (b) Hotfixes tend to be released in a hurry without extensive testing, so they sometimes cause new problems of their own. Hotfix users tend to be corporate IT people whose job it is to stay on top of these things.

Periodicallyit's supposed to be every 12 months but in practice it's less oftenMicrosoft gathers all of the Critical Updates, Recommended Updates, and Hotfixes, tests them extensively, and releases them as a Service Pack. Service Packs, then, represent a complete, cumulative set of fixes and additions made since the initial release of an operating system. Service Packs can be obtained on CD-ROM media, or can be downloaded from Microsoft's Web site.

If you're used to Windows 95, 98, and Me, where you were basically left twisting slowly in the wind when it came to bug fixes, this is a really big deal. You have a real operating system now, and you are going to get the kind of support you should have been getting all along.

Service Pack 2, or SP2, contains not only fixes for hundreds of bugs and security issues, but also many new features mostly centered on improving security (see Appendix B for the details). Don't let the "hundreds of bugs" worry youin a collection of programs as large as XP, there are bound to be thousands of bugs. Luckily, most of them are very, very obscure, and affect only a few users with specific hardware and software combinations.

NOTE

At the time this was written, SP2 was not available for Windows XP 64-bit Edition.

However, if you are running one of the 32-bit versions of Windows XP (Home Edition, Professional, Tablet, or Media Center) on an AMD 64-bit (Opteron) processor, you can install SP2. Be sure to read the notes on the new "NX" option in Appendix B.

You might wonder whether you really need to install Service Packs, since you probably install the Critical Updates that XP downloads and informs you of from time to time. The answer is emphatically yes, for two reasons. First, Service Packs fix those annoying but minor bugs that you may not even realize are therethat odd crash every other week, or that weird sound that Media Player makes once in while. Second, application programs will eventually appear that require a certain Service Pack level in order to run correctly. Windows evolves, so you need to keep up. Those two reasons alone are enough to warrant installing any service pack, but Service Pack 2 is extraordinarily important because of the many Internet-related security issues it addresses.

Here are some other things that you should know about Service Packs:

• They're cumulative, so, for example, Service Pack 2 includes all the changes in Service Pack 1. If you skipped a previous service pack, you can still install a newer one without missing anything.

• If you use Add/Remove Programs to install optional Windows components after installing a service pack, you don't have to install the Service Pack again, as you did with Windows NT and 2000. Windows Setup may still ask you to insert the Service Pack media, or it may need to download updated files, but it won't mess you up by installing out-of-date components.

• Starting about the same time that Microsoft releases a Service Pack to the public, new computers purchased from major vendors should come with the service pack preinstalled. (At least, it should be an option. If you're buying a new computer, ask for the latest version). To check the current service pack level of your Windows XP computer, open Windows Explorer and select Help, About Windows. Or, type winver at the command prompt. Compare that to current Service Pack level listed at windowsupdate.microsoft.com.

• While this appendix describes the procedure for obtaining and installing Service Pack 2, it's very likely that the procedure will be similar for subsequent service packs as well.

NOTE

In a corporate environment, your IT department will most likely control the installation of service packs. If this is the case for you, you might want to just skip ahead to Appendix B to read about the changes that come with SP2.

Now, let's talk about how to install the Service Pack on your computer.