It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001.

Vista includes many of the features stated above, as well as the new Windows Defender.Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. The security updates in SP2 were the base for the security in Windows Vista. Environment - There were non trackable changes in the environment of SP2 from SP1.

The sliding bars were changed to the color blue. The copyright at the bottom of the screen was removed, and the words 'Home Edition' and 'Professional' were wiped off. Startup screen - The startup screen was significantly changed.Windows Media Player 10 - WMP 10 was released with SP2 with an improved interface, and new capability features.Windows Movie Maker 2 - The next edition of Windows Movie Maker was introduced in SP2 with dozens of new effects.Pop-up blocker - The pop-up blocker was built into Internet Explorer after Microsoft drew some criticism for releasing IE without any pop-up blockers.This included the addition of Windows Firewall, and the enhanced monitoring of virus protection and system updates.

Security - Huge security updates were included in Service Pack 2.

Service Pack 2 included many important addons and updates:

Windows xp professional sp2