Week in review: XP update unleashed!

[Dashken]

Microsoft's long-awaited update to its Windows XP operating system finally arrived, but not everyone is in a hurry to upgrade.

The company released Windows XP Service Pack 2 to manufacturing late last week, following a series of delays. Microsoft will make the free update available via download and via CD, but it is recommending that customers turn on Windows' Automatic Upgrade feature and get the update that way.

The SP2 update should be distributed to approximately 100 million PCs through automatic updates during the next two months, Microsoft said. Customers who choose to download manually will be able to do so by the end of August.

The update, which includes a built-in firewall and pop-up blocker, falls short of offering the robust security features provided by a number of stand-alone security vendors, according to industry players. But some analysts note that the future for those companies is less secure, as Microsoft begins to bundle an increasing amount of security applications into the operating system.

Source: http://news.com.com/Week+in+review%3...?tag=nefd.lede