Microsoft yesterday resumed the availability of Windows XP SP3 at its website. Earlier last week MS pulled the update from its public servers due to some compatibility issues; it delayed the general release of Windows XP SP3 and Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), due to a last-minute discovered incompatibility. The update, released to manufacturing two weeks ago, was expected to be generally available on April 29th and later in early Summer as an automatic update. Microsoft said it is now offering "hotfix" for the compatibility issues with its Dynamics Retail Management System, which it says should be installed first.

This third official XP service pack includes all previously released Windows XP updates, including security updates and hotfixes, and select out-of-band releases as well as new functionality such as Network Access Protection (NAP), an update of Windows Product Activation, and security improvements such as improved black hole router detection (those that are silently discarding packets).

The update is available via the Windows Update as a 67MB or as a direct download.