Today, Microsoft offered its last update for Windows Service Pack 2 (SP2). No future security issues with SP2 will be patched, no matter how severe they may be. Windows XP 64-bit users on SP2 will still be supported through April 2014.
Staying protected is easy, though, with a free update to XP Service Pack 3. To check which version of Windows you have, click the Windows Start button and type "winver" in the search box (detailed instructions). If you're using the 32-bit version of XP SP2, then you should follow these steps from Microsoft to update to SP3. As a user, you probably won't notice any difference between SP2 and SP3, so there's really no reason NOT to do it.
If your computer has Automatic Updates turned on (which I highly recommend), then you are probably already updated to SP3.
Another option is to upgrade your PC to Windows 7. I've found Windows 7 to be very user friendly and more stable than older versions of Windows. But not all PCs are powerful enough to handle the new operating system. Check out our article on Windows 7 to see if it is the right choice for you.
