Microsoft announced that the release of Windows XP Service Pack 3 will proceed according to plan and will be available for download next Thursday, April 29.

The preview shows very little change from the early beta of SP3 and PC Magazine noted it to be highly unremarkable.

The upgrade provides support for WPA2 and the Peer Name Resolution Protocol (PNRP) used in Windows Vista. It will contain minor performance and stability enhancements and also a cumulative security update.

Depending on the user’s computer, the download will take between 30 minutes and one hour. Another 10 minutes and also 580 MB will be required for the full installation. PC Magazine presented step by step the installation process: the setup goes through listing third-party drivers, performs a system inventory, checks space for installation, backs up files, installs new OS files, and performs a cleanup. After that, a reboot is required and the update is now complete.

Some of the relevant updates of the Service Pack are: support for WPA2, improvements to black-hole router detection, BITS 2.5, Peer Name Resolution Protocol (PNRP), Windows Installer 3.1 and the Digital Identity Management Service (DIMS).

The last Service Pack for XP, named SP2, was released in August 2004. At the time, problems on the installation were often reported and Microsoft had a hard time convincing people to upgrade.

SP3 is expected to be Windows XP’s last major update, as Microsoft will stop offering the system to manufacturers on June 30. Still, an announcement was made regarding XP’s activity on “ultra-low cost” computers.