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Windows XP SP3 Build 3205 Released w/ New Features

Posted by Zonk on from the new-tricks-for-an-old-dog dept.

jBubba writes "Windows XP SP3 build 3205 is the first official & authorized release of the next Windows XP service pack; and has been made available to testers as a part of the Windows Server 2008/Windows Vista SP1 beta program. NeoSmart Technologies has the run-down on the included 1,073 patches/hotfixes including security updates. Contrary to popular belief, Windows XP SP3 does ship with new features/components, most of which have been backported from Windows Vista. Some included features: 'New Windows Product Activation model: no need to enter product key during setup. Network Access Protection modules and policies have been brought to XP after being one of the more-well-received features in Windows Vista. New Microsoft Kernel Mode Cryptographic Module - the Windows XP SP3 kernel now includes an entire module that provides easy access to multiple cryptographic algorithms and is available for use in kernel-mode drivers and services. New "Black Hole Router" detection - Windows XP SP3 can detect and protect against rogue routers that are discarding data.'"

7 of 286 comments (clear)

  1. Re:But... by Bacon+Bits · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yes it does.

    --
    The road to tyranny has always been paved with claims of necessity.
  2. The only thing that's interesting by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Interesting

    most of which have been backported from Windows Vista.

    Including DirectX 10? Few things about Vista are interesting besides that.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  3. New features, backported from Vista ? by Hymer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    But didn't Microsoft say that it is impossible to backport features to XP from Vista due to major differences in the system ?
    ...and since it is possible, will we be getting DirectX 10 on XP too ?
    ...and if not, why not ?
    --
    btw. how can this be good for Vista ?

  4. Blackhole Avoidance? by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Does anyone have any details on the blackhole routing avoidance feature? While the summary claims blackhole routers are "rogue" routers, blackhole routing is the most common way to stop DDoS attacks and excessive worm traffic from giant botnets of Windows machines. If the OS now offers botnet operators an easy way to bypass that rerouting of malware traffic, this could have serious detrimental affects upon the internet as a whole.

    1. Re:Blackhole Avoidance? by Slashcrap · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Regardless of what you want to call it, if Windows is starting to try some sort of verification and automated avoidance of such routes it could interfere with said defenses, possible resulting in routing loops, DDoSing a router somewhere, or use of more advanced defensive techniques.

      You seem slightly confused about how the Internet works, so I'm guessing you work in sales. How exactly is your average Windows machine going to avoid these routes? Or influence the paths that its packets take once they've gone past the first router in any meaningful way whatsoever? Theoretically you can do some tricks with the various lesser known ICMP message types to change the routes that your packets take, but you don't seriously think that shit still works in real life do you? Just try doing some source routing from an average ADSL connected host and see how far you get. I guess if the Windows box was acting as a router for an ISP and running BGP then it could be an issue, but we're getting into the realms of surreal comedy here. Just remember that as a general rule your ISP decides how to route your packets, not you.

      I'm pretty sure that the "black hole" stuff they're talking about is the old PMTU black hole issue. I'm equally sure that Windows 95 had a registry setting that turned on black hole detection, so I'd love to know what's actually new here.

  5. What "massive rewrite"? by Joce640k · · Score: 4, Interesting

    DirectX is just a COM interface to the video driver.

    The main differences between DX9 and DX10 are new shaders and getting rid of all the legacy capability bits, neither of which has any dependency on the operating system or driver model.

    I bet that if Microsoft gave the go-ahead to ATI/NVIDIA/INTEL there'd be DX10 support for XP in the very next release. The only reason they aren't doing it is because Microsoft is artificially blocking them.

    They did the exact same thing with OpenGL when Vista was in Beta. Microsoft went around making a lot of noise saying "It can't be done!!" but the driver writers were saying it was easy. Eventually they gave in and Bingo! We have OpenGL on Vista.

    --
    No sig today...
  6. Re:I hate new features. by cmacb · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I suspect that the features aren't going to be any of the most important ones,


    Right.

    The most important features of Vista were dropped before it ever hit the street.