anyweb Posted November 16, 2007 Report post Posted November 16, 2007 With Service Pack 2 installed, Windows XP has proven to be a notably durable and reasonably secure version of the operating system. The August 2004 release of SP2 dramatically upgraded the security of the original XP, adding the Windows Firewall and Windows Defender, along with easily configurable options to block or allow specific kinds of traffic into your system. Since SP2 came out, Microsoft has continued to supply fixes and enhancements via Windows (and Microsoft) Updates. For the most part, Windows XP Service Pack 3 simply rolls all the fixes and upgrades into a single convenient package, though there are a few brand-new additions with SP3. Whether the new additions catch your eye or not, security upgrades make applying the service pack a good idea—but make sure you know about possible compatibility issues (detailed later in this review). more info > http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2200774,00.asp and > http://neosmart.net/blog/2007/windows-xp-s...lysis-included/ What's new in SP3 ? Besides the loss of the Address Bar and the new descriptions in Security Options, here's what's new in SP3. First, as with Vista, you no longer need to provide the product key during installation. If you don't, however, you'll be prompted for the product key later as part of the Genuine Advantage check that Windows initiates. Second, SP3 adds support for FIPS 140-1 Level 1 cryptography as a DLL at the kernel level. Developers can access this Kernel Mode Cryptographic Module, making use of the cryptographic algorithms to improve the security of their own drivers. In addition, SP3 improves black hole router detection (sensing of routers dropping certain kinds of packets), allowing XP to reconfigure the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) to keep connections alive without the performance compromise the detection formerly caused. SP3 turns on detection by default; in earlier versions of XP, the facility was both less capable and, to minimize processor load, turned off by default. more info > http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2200799,00.asp Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
