Microsoft’s latest update to Windows 2000 is its last before the product moves into “extended support” on Friday. The company says the update rollup will be easier to deploy than a service pack.
“Update Rollup 1 for Windows 2000 SP4” includes a collection of security-related updates produced for Windows 2000 between the release Service Pack 4 in June of 2003 and April 30, 2005.
Microsoft said it released an “update rollup” instead of a “service pack” because the most frequent customer requests regarding updates were “to make it as easy as possible to keep Windows 2000-based computers up to date from a security perspective, and to reduce the amount of pre-deployment testing that customers have to perform.”
Though Update Rollup 1 includes a series of security updates many Windows 2000 maintainers have probably already applied, Microsoft urged users to apply the update anyhow:
“Update Rollup 1 contains additional enhancements that increase system security, reliability, reduce support costs, and support the current generation of PC hardware. In some cases, the individual binary files released in previous individual security updates may have been updated via individual hotfixes to address minor compatibility issues introduced in those prior security updates that affected individual customers.”
The Update Rollup won’t be available via Automatic Updates until next month. The update also requires Service Pack 4 be installed.
