Microsoft ends all support for Windows XP Service Pack 1 today. Systems without Service Pack 2 installed will no longer receive fixes and updates. October patches will still be available, but November updates will be distributed to Service Pack 2 systems only.
Speaking about Service Pack 1 we need to say that this major update for Windows XP has been released on September, 2002. Two years later Service Pack 2 came out. All Windows users were encouraged to apply it. However, sometimes installing SP2 resulted in compatibility and stability problems. Making a fresh install using new Windows XP installation disk with Service Pack 2 included often was the only solution. But some people didn’t want to reinstall. That’s why many of them are still running Service Pack 1.
But hey, that was two years ago! All modern software is now SP2 compatible, and known stability issues have been resolved, so there is no excuse for sticking to outdated system. If you want to be safe and stable, download and install Service Pack 2. New versions of popular programs might not support the discontinued SP1 much like new applications do not run on Windows 98 and Windows Me.
P.S. Today is also patch Tuesday. Microsoft has issued security updates to fix recent highly critical vulnerabilities in Windows and its other software. Don’t forget to visit Microsoft Windows Update!
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