Although Microsoft ceased support for the XP operating system in April, it just goes to show that people aren’t willing to give up on the best-selling Microsoft Operating System just yet.
Greece based developer “Harkaz” started the project back in September 2013 as a result of being forced into a new operating system by Microsoft. “Many users, including me, who won’t be able to upgrade their old machines to a newer OS would like to easily install all Windows updates in one convenient package”, said Harkaz. He later stated, “Windows XP Unofficial SP4 ENU is a cumulative update rollup for Windows XP (x86) English. It can be applied to a live Windows XP system which has SP1 at minimum, installed or it can be slipstreamed (integrated) into any Windows XP Installation Media.” Hence, the dubbed ‘SP4 for XP’.
Harkaz continued in saying that the SP4 release includes updates for MOST Windows XP components. These include:
- MCE and Tablet PC
- Request only hotfixes
- Microsoft .NET Frameworks 1.0 (Tablet only), 1.1, 3.5, & 4.0
- Integrated POS ready security updates
Regardless of whether you are a dedicated XP enthusiast or not, installing patches not verified by Microsoft has it’s inherent risks. However, running XP as it (with no support offered anymore) might be just enough to persuade someone to see what is on the other side of the fence.
As always, make sure you have your system up to date, and backups are in your data recovery plan.