Support for Windows XP Service Pack 2 ends on July 13, 2010
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean31

> Support for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) will end on July 13, 2010. This date was established when
> Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) was released on April 21, 2008.
> <snip>
> Note The release of a service pack has no impact on Mainstream Support and Extended Support end dates.
> Therefore, there will be no change to the previously announced end of Mainstream and Extended Support
> dates for Windows XP. Windows XP will transition from the Mainstream Support phase to the Extended
> Support phase on April 14, 2009, as scheduled. During the Extended Support phase for Windows XP,
> Microsoft will continue to provide paid support and security updates at no additional charge. Extended
> Support for Windows XP will retire on April 8, 2014.

Translation: After July 13, 2010, there will be NO Security updates for
XP SP2. If one keeps an XP SP2 system updated with Security updates then
there's no urgency in applying SP3 other than the end of support in
2010.

MowGreen [MVP 2003-2008]
===============
*-343-* FDNY
Never Forgotten
===============



Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

> On Tue, 8 Jul 2008 14:22:52 -0700 (PDT), abhishekrishna
> <abhishekrishna.90@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>>should i opt for installing the sp3 of xp or running with sp2 is
>>better?
>
>
>
> You should install SP3. In my view one should always keep up with the
> latest critical updates and service packs for Windows.
>
> But read here first: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950717
>