Some of the releases today are new, and some are for older platforms under custom support agreements, that we are making publicly available today.

Today, as part of our regular Update Tuesday schedule, we have taken action to provide additional critical security updates to address vulnerabilities that are at heightened risk of exploitation due to past nation-state activity and disclosures.

Miscellaneous: Some other components of the OS are updated, like the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) is updated to version 3.0, the Microsoft Extended Markup Language (MSXML) services are updated to version 6.0, the Windows installer is updated to version 3.1.4, the Window Imaging Component allows the camera vendors their own proprietary image codecs with the OS's features, updates to the operating system components of Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) and Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, and more.Although Windows XP/Windows Server 2003 are out of support since years, Microsoft decided, to release security updates for both operating systems.

Remote Desktop Protocol: The Remote Desktop Protocol is updated to provide better communication between distant machines.

Better Wi-Fi security: The Wi-Fi Protected Access protocol now supports WPA2 to strengthen network security.Black hole: The Black hole algorithm equips your OS to ignore network routers that incorrectly drop certain kinds of network packets.Better encryption: The new kernel encapsulate several more efficient cryptographic algorithms.Network: It features the Network Access Protection compatibility and allows Windows XP machines to communicate with the NAP in Windows Server 2008.What are the key features of Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3)?

It embeds several improvements like network security and efficiency, better kernel encryptions, and updates all kinds of components. Windows XP Service Pack 3 is a non-cumulative update package developed by Microsoft (contrary to Service Pack 1 and 2) targeting Windows XP 32-bit operating systems.

Microsoft windows xp service pack 3