According to Microsoft, a SP (Service Pack) is a “Windows update, often combining previously released updates, that helps make Windows more reliable. Service packs, can include security and performance improvements and support for new types of hardware”. Microsoft finishes by advising “Make sure you install the latest service pack to help keep Windows up to date.”
This is very good advice indeed but please be advised that some SPs can be quite large and can easily consume the vast majority of your monthly data allowance. If you feel that installing the latest SP is over your head or you don’t have enough data available to do the job, then Comp-U-Train offers a Tune-Up service at a very reasonable cost. Microsoft release Windows Service Packs from time to time and it is important that you computer be updated to the latest SP. I say “updated” rather than “upgraded” because that would mean upgrading the computer’s OS (Operating System) completely from say Windows Vista to Windows 7 which is not what we are doing in this exercise.
At the time of writing this Blog in May 2013, the latest SP available for Microsoft XP is SP 3. For Microsoft Vista it is SP 2 and for Windows 7, it is SP 1. You can easily find out whether you have the latest SP by right clicking on “My Computer” or “Computer” and selecting the last entry on the pop up menu which is “Properties”. Under the “Windows Edition” or “System” at the top of the pop up menu window that opens, you will see the version of the Windows OS installed on your computer together with the SP number if it has been installed. It is imporant to note that you should always upgrade the computer’s SP in numerical order. For instance, for Microsoft Vista, you must install SP 1 first before you can install SP 2.