Windows XP Service Pack 2 Block Expires Today

Windows XP Service Pack 2 Block Expires Today

The day has finally arrived. From today, the tool provided by Microsoft for their customers that prevented their workstations from automatically downloading and installing the Service Pack 2 of the Windows XP Operating System will no longer work. Microsoft would be removing the block which might lead to a huge congestion on the Internet due to unsuspecting users downloading the mega patch specially developed to make the XP Operating System secure.

As a result, whether you are prepared or not. If you are using Windows Update, the system would download and install XP SP2 for you if the system is already not upgraded. You can prevent downloading it by completely disabling Automatic Update feature of the Windows Operating System. However, that might lead to an overall insecure system considering more security updates and patches are expected to be released today.

Eight security updates are due to come today from the software giant, which fixes its Office productivity suite and MSN Messenger. This is a part of the Microsoft’s initiative for a secure application environment where they release such updates on the second Tuesday of every month. Most Microsoft patches are quite small and are not noticeable if they are being downloaded in the background.

However, Service Pack 2 is another story considering it can be of the size of upwards of 100 Megs in some instances. Another problem with this update is that Microsoft’s website still shows around 40 applications, which have issues with this particular Service Pack. This includes firewalls and anti-virus applications.