Note: While I would personally choose to use the WSUSOffline tool that suggested, there are risks of using an unofficial tool to support Microsoft products. Then it's just a matter of downloading the relevant install executables for offline use. Here are the settings I recommend to get all of the relevant updates after post-SP3 Take a look at the Microsoft Security Bulletin Search tool to determine which updates you'll need to download. Step 2 - Fetch the latest security updates (released after SP3) Take a look at the Service Pack Center to find the download link for the latest Service pack.įrom everything I've read, Service Pack 3 will be the last service pack to be released for XP. Third-party firewall and antivirus software can also be monitored from Security Center.This is the best officially supported solution Service Pack 2 also added Security Center, an interface that provides a general overview of the system's security status, including the state of the firewall and automatic updates. Additionally, security-related improvements were made to e-mail and web browsing.

Raw socket support is removed (which supposedly limits the damage done by zombie machines) and the Windows Messenger service (which had been abused to cause pop-up advertisements to be displayed as system messages without a web browser or any additional software) became disabled by default. Headed by former computer hacker Window Snyder, the service pack's security improvements (codenamed 'Springboard', as these features were intended to underpin additional changes in Longhorn) included a major revision to the included firewall (renamed Windows Firewall, and now enabled by default), and an update to Data Execution Prevention, which gained hardware support in the NX bit that can stop some forms of buffer overflow attacks.

Update windows xp service pack 2