New Windows service pack

I hadnt heard of any service packs but last night my comp dloaded a 300 somthing MB service pack for windows. Am I just paranoid or is this a coincidence with all the BS that going on?

A Service Pack, or SP, is a collection of all of the updates, hotfixes, security and other tweaks. There have been 3 for Windows XP and 1 for Vista. The XP SP1 was more of a culmination of fixes, SP2 introduced windows firewall, security center, Data Execution Prevention(stopping outside sources from executing data on your computer, and Finally the latest service pack is SP3 over 1,100 fixes have been included with that. You can be paranoid about it if you want, but your fellow PC patrons will just have easier access to your computer if you don't install them =p.

Most likely XP Service Pack 3. The size is about right. You can verify if ti was installed by doing this:

Right click on your My Computer icon and choose Properties
Under the General tab at the top, you should see a section called "System"

In theory this should have your Operating System, the Version number or date, and the Service Pack level.

I "wondered" about SP3 for XP since it suddenly showed up on my comp and today about 30 minutes after I sent a link to the Marcy Kaptur video to all on my email list, now another "update". Am I just pranoid?

You're not paranoid if they really ARE out to get you ;-)

In all seriousness, you probably are ok. Once you install something as big as a Service Pack, Windows update scanned for updates using a new set of parameters. It is not unexpected that you would need new updates right after a Service Pack update.

Windows, gotta love it!

there is a service pack three. if you download it using microsoft update it should be about 70megs. if you download it using google and searching for service pack then yes it is about 300 megs.