eWeek Labs: Overview of Windows 2000 SP3
eWeek | at | by Mike
Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 was released earlier this month, consolidating more than a year of security patches and other bug fixes since Service Pack 2 shipped. SP3 includes the contents of Service Pack 1, Service Pack 2 and Windows 2000 Security Rollup Package Version 1, as well as many additional fixes. As such, it should be applied but only after appropriate testing.
The automatic update agent installed by default with SP3 is the biggest issue IT staff will need to address when deploying SP3. The default behavior of the agent is to automatically download updates but not (repeat, not) install them. Only those in the Administrator group can install patches or change Automatic Updates settings (it is controlled through a new Control Panel icon). A big warning to administrators about configuring the agent to automatically apply updates (by default, this is done at 3 a.m. each day): This option will result in automatic system reboots whenever an update is downloaded that requires a restart.