Microsoft Ends Support For Windows XP SP2

Microsoft on Tuesday officially retired Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), the company's most significant service pack, several security experts said.

"Windows XP SP2 was a game changer," said Wolfgang Kandek, chief technology officer of Qualys, a California-based security risk and compliance management provider.

"SP2 was a major, major course correction by Microsoft," added John Pescatore, an analyst who covers security for Gartner Research. "It was the first time that Microsoft could tout Windows as being secure."

Microsoft set Tuesday as the end of support for Windows XP SP2 , and used the day to deliver its final security patch. To receive any further fixes, security or otherwise, users must run XP SP3 or upgrade to a newer operating system, such as Vista or Windows 7.

More: http://pcworld.com/article/201047/

Agreed. Sp2 really made an impact on security. The introduction to the firewall was a major addition. However, they did have a firewall, but it wasn't easily configurable.

DEP was also a major change which protected hardware and software from buffer overflows.

Popup blocker for IE6 was also a nice addition.