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Finally, after pulling the RTM of Service Pack 3 for Windows XP a little over a week ago, Microsoft is finally releasing both the standalone and Windows Update versions of this long-awaited update. Supposedly, the incompatibility issue was fixed or else they would not have made it available.

You probably noticed an update notification in your system tray recently (provided you have Automatic Updates turned on) for SP3. Otherwise, you can visit the Microsoft Technet website for download links. The standalone file is a whopping 316.4MB, so I suggest that if you have many PCs to update you should at least download a few more megabytes and get the CD ISO image.

As with all major service pack updates you should perform some general maintenance on your PC before proceeding. Check out this useful thread over at BestTechie.net on what you should do. It would also be a good time to back up your entire system should anything go wrong. I will be imaging my entire OS partition and burning it to a bootable DVD.

I hope Microsoft does not once again have to pull the update for another discovered incompatibility issue. However, I am eager to find out if SP3 really does improve Windows XP’s performance as some have claimed, but I do realize that others have not noticed much of a difference.

Service Pack 1 for Microsoft’s Windows Vista has finally been re-released after being pulled from availability through Automatic Updates some time ago. Although Vista users will only be able to access the 434.5MB standalone installer from the Microsoft Download Center for now, delivery through Automatic Updates should be coming soon.

Additionally, boxed copies of Windows Vista with SP1 already integrated will soon hit store shelves and I am quite sure that new PCs with Vista pre-installed should be rolling out with this update also already installed.

Yesterday, I got a Microsoft TechNet newsletter informing me that Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista is ready for download. However, this morning, CNET’s News.com has an article about Microsoft temporarily stopping the distribution of SP1 through Automatic  Update because it seems that quite a few Vista PCs are having problems running the update successfully. I am not sure if the same problem is experienced when running the standalone SP1 download, but you should keep your eyes open when Microsoft fixes the problem.

I  do not use Vista, but use XP Professional instead. I am looking forward to the final release of SP3 for XP in early March which is supposed to add a few new features and also provide a bit of a speed boost. I, for one, always download the massive standalone service pack update files just to minimize any hiccups that may occur through Windows Update.

This morning, I got a notification of these updates being available through Automatic Updates this morning. Keep your PC up to date with the latest security hotfixes!

• Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP (KB939653)
• Security Update for Outlook Express for Windows XP (KB941202)
• Security Update for Windows XP (KB933729)
• Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool – October 2007 (KB890830)

Note that updates for other Windows OSes are available through these same links. Most of these updates do not just apply to Windows XP.

Microsoft recently released an updated version of its Internet Explorer 7 web browser. This time you do not need to validate anything through Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) as you once had to do. For some who did not want to be nagged by WGA, this is what was probably holding back upgrades from IE6 to IE7.

If you do not already have IE7 installed this would be the perfect opportunity to get it. IE7 is a great improvement over IE6 in terms of security.

Yet another update for Windows I discovered today, but this one was targeted specifically to Windows Media Player 11.

Update for Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP (KB939683)

Remember to install updates as you get notifications to keep your Windows PC safe and secure.

Today, I was surprised at the number of updates that my Windows XP computers received from Automatic Updates. At least Microsoft hasn’t completely forgotten about their XP users now that Vista is finding its way on many computers! The following updates are for Windows XP SP2, although I would think that similar updates exist for other operating systems as well.

• Cumulative Security Update for IE (KB937143)
• Security Update for Microsoft XML Core Services 4.0 (KB936181)
• Security Update for Microsoft XML Core Servics 6.0 (KB933579)
• Vulnerability in Windows Media Player (KB936782)
• Vulnerability in OLE Automation (KB921503)
• Security Update for Microsoft XML Core Services 3.0 (KB936021)
• Vulnerability in Vector Markup Language (KB938127)
• Vulnerability in GDI (KB938829)
• Reliability Update for Explorer.exe on Windows XP-SP2 Systems (KB938828)
• Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal – August 2007 (KB890830)

That’s quite a handful of updates! Anyway, I hope you have been keeping your Windows PCs up to date so far. Be reminded that if you are running Windows XP you should also have service pack 2 already installed (SP2) in order to receive these updates.