Updated: July 12, 2020 (August 19, 2002)

Third Service Pack for Windows 2000

Michael analyzed and wrote about Microsoft's operating systems, including the Windows client OS, as well as compliance and governance. Michael... more

Microsoft has released the third service pack for Windows 2000, the first service pack since the company stopped work on Windows to conduct an extensive security-related code review. Windows Service Pack 3 (SP3) contains a number of security fixes that were derived from this review. However, it also substantially (and irreversibly) updates some important Windows services and utilities.

Bug and Security Fixes

The new service pack contains more than 50 security-related bug fixes. Approximately half of these fixes relate to specific Microsoft security bulletins, and half appear to be the result of the code review of the Windows code. (For more information on the code review, see the Aug. 2002 Research Report, “Security: The Foundation of Trustworthy Computing.”)

Surprisingly absent, given that Microsoft considers the Internet Explorer (IE) Web browser to be part of the operating system, are any fixes for security bugs in IE 5.5 and 6.0. Customers must get these fixes from a separate source. (See the “Availability and Resources” section below.)

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