Planet Lowyat

Microsoft will add Windows XP Service Pack 3 to Windows Update on Thursday at 10 a.m. Pacific time.

A Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed that July 10 is, in fact, XP SP3’s automatic update debut, but cautioned that not all users would see it immediately. “As with all service pack releases, Microsoft will carefully monitor the release to ensure that all customers have a good experience,” she said in an instant message reply to queries. “Once Windows XP SP3 is posted to AU Automatic Updates, some users may see it right away; others may not see it for awhile.”

The announcement that Microsoft would release XP SP3 to Automatic Updates came just a week after the company started Windows XP on its road to retirement by halting sales of the operating system to retail outlets and barring major computer makers from installing it on most new PCs.

People who want to block the automatic deployment of Windows XP SP3 can either modify the Windows Update settings or download and use the Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit, which provides several tools for stopping the service pack from reaching client PCs until at least April 2009.

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Read Microsoft Blog.

I want to take another break from the discussion of the overall Support Lifecycle policies to address some common confusion that we’ve been hearing regarding the support dates for Windows XP. Recently, there have been a number of posts in the blogosphere about Windows XP and the upcoming end of Direct OEM and Retail License availability. Some people are interpreting this as the end of support for Windows XP.

Please let me try and clear this up… Support for Windows XP will continue, in accordance with the Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy. This means that the Mainstream Support phase will end on April 14, 2009 and the Extended Support phase will end on April 8, 2014. That’s at least another 6 years of support remaining for Windows XP!

Remember, that Windows XP was launched in 2001 and Microsoft committed to providing a minimum of 10 years of support (5 years of Mainstream Support and 5 years of Extended Support) at the time it was released. In accordance with the policy, when we announced the updated release date of Windows Vista, Microsoft also provided additional 2 years Mainstream Support for Windows XP. Last year, we also announced the addition of an Extended Support phase to the consumer editions of Windows XP. Supporting products for this length of time is not something that is typical in the software industry. This is a significant advantage for Microsoft customers, because it allows for future business planning and allows our customers to maximize their investment in Microsoft technologies by understanding how to achieve the most productive use of the product.

So, what is really changing on June 30th? To understand this, I would recommend reading the Windows Lifecycle Policy page and the official Support Lifecycle pages for Windows XP. Essentially, this means that OEMs and Retailers will not be able to obtain new copies of Windows XP. That’s it. System Builders will continue to be able to obtain XP through January 31st, 2009.

There is still plenty of support left for Windows XP. If you read any stories that say otherwise, don’t believe them.

Have you seen any posts that don’t tell the full story about Windows XP support? What has been your experience with understanding the Windows XP Support Lifecycle policy? What are your thoughts on the length of support for Windows XP? Please leave us some comments and tell us about it!

*This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights.*

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According to close source, Microsoft Windows XP SP3 Release Dates will be:

• April 14, 2008: Support is available for the release version of Service Pack 3 for Windows XP
• April 21, 2008: Original Equipment Manufacturers, Volume License, Connect, and MSDN and TechNet subscribers
• April 29, 2008: Microsoft Update, Windows Update, Download Center
• June 10, 2008: Automatic Updates

The automatic updates won’t land until June. I believed his delay should give system administrators an ample amount of time to prepare for the upgrade or simply come up with an excuse for when things go awry.

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I’ve just finished tweak my laptop running Microsoft Windows XP professional SP2 and I would like to share my experience here because it worked perfectly.

I know this is an old story and you can easily found tons of similar tutorial or guide from any search engine such as CNET, 10 Simple Ways to Speed Up Windows XP, Speed Up Windows XP, 23 Ways To Speed WinXP Without Defrag and many others.

I’m strongly believed hard disk defragment is the main key point for speed up Windows XP. Personally I use Auslogics Disk Defrag and TuneXP.

For Auslogics Disk Defrag,

• download
• install
• run disk defrag

That’s simple.

For Tune XP,

• download
• install
• click Memory and file system
• Enable accelerate DLL unloading
• Enable faster shutdown
• Enable file allocation size tweak
• Enable optimize prefetch
• Enable increase NTFS performance
• Click Hardware
• Enable UDMA-66
• Enable increase CPU priority
• Enable increasing USB polling interval
• Enable speed up windows IRQ handling

Beside these 2 tools, I would suggest you should look at others tips such as:
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Today, Asus loaded with Microsoft Windows XP available in BestBuy. The reports were confirmed when BestBuy.com launched a product page for the Eee PC 4G-X.

How much? The price is listed $399.99 at BestBuy.com

Product Features

• Intel® Celeron® M processor with 400MHz frontside bus and 900MHz processor speed
• 512MB DDR2 memory for multitasking power
• Note: Optical drive not included

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