Win XP Service Pack 1

What's the difference between the upcoming Windows XP service pack and your basic Windows Update download? In some respects, not much. Windows XP SP 1 Beta 1 installs like any Windows Update--albeit an update that's 100MB or more in size. The final SP 1, due out sometime this summer, will be available via download and CD. It fixes security patches, updates drivers, and reboots your computer. And after it's done, Windows XP runs pretty much as it did before--only with a different foundation and some major changes to Microsoft's bundled software packages, inspired by its antitrust settlement with the Department of Justice.

Welcome changes
Currently, only beta testers get to peek at the new service pack's promising developments. For instance, Service Pack 1 finally lets you kill tiresome Windows Messenger nag screens that ask you to sign up for a .Net Passport. SP 1's biggest change is a dialog box in system preferences--a power-user feature, to be sure--that lets you hide Windows Messenger, Media Player, Internet Explorer, and others. Microsoft included this to comply with the U.S. Department of Justice's demands.

Microsoft-free Windows
After installing the SP 1 beta, you see little change, except that the Start menu highlights a new installation of Internet Explorer. But dig deeper, and you'll find notable differences. Installing SP 1 creates a new option in the Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs called "Set program access and defaults." This tool lets you ditch Media Player in favor of, say, MusicMatch Jukebox or dump Internet Explorer in favor of Netscape Communicator. But best of all, you can configure those non-Microsoft programs to show up in Windows XP as if they were born to be there--with no sign of the Microsoft bundle.

Here's how it works: Three options in your Add/Remove Programs control panel--Microsoft Windows, Non-Microsoft, and Custom--set different defaults for browsers, communications, and media players. If you want to run all Microsoft, all the time, you'd choose the Microsoft Windows option, which sticks you with Windows Media Player, Internet Explorer, and Outlook Express. If you favor Winamp, Mozilla, Yahoo Messenger, and Eudora, you could select the DOJ-mandated Non-Microsoft setting lists, then pick from the non-Microsoft programs you've already installed on your machine. The custom settings let you mix and match Microsoft and non-Microsoft options. PC manufacturers can add yet a fourth option when they configure new machines using SP 1 after it's released later this year. The fourth option resets the system defaults to the PC maker's configuration.

Greater security--we hope
A few new service pack features will, at least in the future, tout some of Microsoft's new company policies. For example, SP 1 enables support for newer hardware platforms such as USB 2.0, although the USB update is already available via Windows Update. The improved XP will also include support for forward-looking platforms such as Tablet PC and the Mira smart wireless monitor device. But these elements aren't part of the beta release, so they're merely marketing fluff at this point.

More significant are SP 1's code-based updates. In January, Bill Gates ordered a line-by-line code overhaul to remove any security flaws from the system. Such an exhaustive reworking is theoretically more thorough than piecemeal security patches issued on the fly to combat security issues, and we think the resulting security improvements will be reason enough for most XP users to ultimately download SP 1.

If SP 1 lives up to its expectations--fixing known problems and providing more flexibility--give it serious consideration when Microsoft releases it to the public later this year. In the interim, Microsoft needs to work on making the update more stable and speedy. Stay tuned for our word on the final code.