A PCMech Community member alerted me that Service Pack 3 for Windows XP is in fact in Windows Update now - which would put it ahead of schedule.

So I checked it out.

(click image for full-size view)

Yep, it’s there.

Will I be installing it?

Not yet.

I’m going to purposely wait to see if the auto-updater actually does its thing and downloads it automatically (which it should without issue.)

Thanks Drew!

I’ve been reading a lot of blogs stating that “Yes, Service Pack 3 is in Windows Update! Really! Truly!”

No it’s not - and it’s not supposed to be there until June. Yes you can download it now manually if you choose (why you would want to I have no idea) but like many others I’m waiting for it to be delivered over the auto-update system.

And just to prove it is NOT in Windows Update, here’s a screen shot from my own computer using “Custom” from windowsupdate.microsoft.com.

Click the image for larger view. Then look to the left. No “High Priority” updates. In fact, no updates at all because my system is completely up-to-date.

To users of XP out there, my word of advice is this: WAIT. Your computer will not engulf itself in a fiery ball of doom visible from space if you continue to use SP2 for the time being. SP3 will come around eventually, everyone will get it, life will go on.

Chill out.

Yes I understand that XP SP3 has been available as a release candidate download for some time now, but.. I’ve been wondering when Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3 will be appearing as an auto-download in Windows Update.

After conducting some research, here are the dates everything should happen:

April 21, 2008: OEM, Volume License, Connect, and MSDN and TechNet subscribers. (Yes, that’s today.)

April 29, 2008: Manual Update via windowsupdate.microsoft.com (and Microsoft Download Center).

June 10, 2008: Automatic Update (Windows Update)

The June 10 2008 auto-update is the one I’m most concerned with.

Typically speaking, Microsoft’s download servers get absolutely slammed the day anything major is released like a service pack. However I’ve noticed over the years their deployment systems have “smartened” up enough where the auto-updates are sent out in “waves” rather than all at once.

If you’re like me you’ll probably wait until the auto-update release (because honestly speaking there’s really no rush to get this). It will be a big honkin’ download and it will take time.

Also, this is the last service pack for XP. After the end of June ‘08, that’s it for this OS. Granted, you’ll still be able to use it for a few years but this is the “last hurrah” so to speak.