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The first service pack for Windows 2000 will be RTM'd next Monday (17 July) and posted on the web a couple of days later. You don't really want to be an early adopter on this one unless you own an unfeasibly fast modem, because the core update weighs in at a hefty 83.3Mb.

Although MS says the final version which will be posted will be smaller, it will still be in the 50-60Mb area, so it's probably best to wait for the CD.

SP1 corrects a 'large number' of setup bugs, 35 access violation errors, five memory leaks, 12 stop errors and some security issues. Rabid reports of 65,000 bugs in the core OS should be disregarded as the majority of these are vital issues such as 'Microsoft' being spelt incorrectly in a number of dialogue boxes.

Most of the serious issues have already been resolved by hot fixes, which are now built into SP1.

The service pack contains Outlook Express 5.50.2919.6700, which incorporates many of the security fixes available to its big brother Outlook 2000. Internet Explorer 5.00.3103.1000 is also included, IE 5.5 being deemed not reliable enough for inclusion.

This may come as a surprise to Windows ME users who will find IE 5.5 bundled into the new consumer OS, along with the slinky Media Player 7. If the browser is good enough for ME, why isn't it good enough for Win2K?

There are few enhancements other than setup and manageability improvements and Microsoft says the service pack will not be built into the shrink wrapped OS, so upgrades will always be necessary, a la NT4. ®

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