Introduction

By now many of you would have discovered that Microsoft's first Service Pack for Windows XP is among us, whether Microsoft like it or not. Recently a press release was issued by the software giant saying the Service Pack would be released on the 9th of September to end-users but as it happens, it was leaked before this date by beta testers and folks in the know - what a surprise.

As far as I have seen there is no official word available to us on what the Service Pack actually improves. Although judging from the past we can safely assume it will improve performance and stability, as well as included the latest security updates and new features such as Windows Media Player 9 which is included in Service Pack 1. On the other hand it will most likely also bring with it a whole bread of new problems…

During our testing we didn't notice too many drastic physical changes to the OS after installing the Service Pack, but I'm sure there would be many changes "under the hood", so to speak - For one we noticed in Office applications that things were quicker, well more responsive at least. For those wanting to update to Service Pack 1, there has been a lot of talk on several other websites regarding Microsoft attempting to stop users of pirated copies of Windows XP from updating, which is partly the reason for the publication of this guide.

Nobody likes piracy and we certainly don't usually condone it but these days it's unavoidable, wherever you turn or look. For the enthusiast crowd anyway, it's almost mainstream - the term "crack" is becoming a well-known term even amongst the not so tech-savvy users in the computing world. Friends of mine who have been using computers for no more than 6 months already have half their programs on their computers cracked and are fully aware of the consequences.

Since Windows XP Service Pack 1 leaked its way onto the Internet people have been asking me regularly how to update when they are promoted during installation that they are running an illegal copy of Windows. This guide will explain how to get around this obstacle - Let's face it, these users are already running an illegal copy of Windows - can further harm really be done?

Depending on how you look at it, there is two answers to this question - Let's continue on anyway, even with the possibility of Microsoft pulling a knife to my throat.

How much to upgrade to x64 Edition?