On Monday, Microsoft released to manufacturers the final code for Windows XP SP3. The upgrade provides support for WPA2 and the Peer Name Resolution Protocol used in Windows Vista, among other things. The public version will be available for download via the Web on April 29. Based on our initial installation, the upgrade will be effortless for most Windows XP users.
Although this file is not currently available to the public, we were able to download the RTM version of Windows XP SP3 from Microsoft. It took us about 30 minutes to download, and another 10 minutes to install on a system running Windows XP SP2 Home Edition.