Office XP Service Pack 1 Now Available
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The first service pack for Office XP is now available. In addition to including a number of stability and performance improvements, the service pack also includes all previously released security patches. (Microsoft Knowledge Base article 307843 provides a complete listing of all fixes in SP-1).
As a general rule, staying up to date on service packs is one of the best ways to ensure that your system is secure. Service packs are planned, well-tested releases that include a large number of fixes, including security fixes. If you're up to date on your service packs, you only need to apply subsequently released security patches to be fully protected against all known security vulnerabilities.
In addition to providing an easy way to ensure that your system is up to date on all Office-related security fixes, SP-1 delivers a new feature that introduces the ability to render rich text (RTF) and HTML mail messages as plaintext. Using this feature can provide additional peace of mind for users concerned by the threat posed by email-borne malware. (See Microsoft Knowledge Base article 307594 for more information on using this feature).