Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
Well, first, let's be clear: there is no version of SP2. It's either there, or it's not.
There are several ways to find out, and find out what other patches post SP2 have been installed as well.
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We'll start with the simple: right click on My Computer, select Properties and right there on the General tab you'll see something like this:
Note that it clearly shows Service Pack 2.
If you want to know what post-SP2 updates have also been installed, you can check Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel. That will often list specific additional patches that have been applied since SP2 was installed.
And finally, you can grab any of several utility programs, such as System Information for Windows that will display the very detailed list of all patches applied to your system, whether or not they are represented in Add/Remove programs. Here's an example:
Note that it lists additional KB numbers, which are references to KnowledgeBase articles at Microsoft's support site, as being part of SP3 - which does not exist yet. That's simply its way of listing post-SP2 patches.
Article C2378 - July 1, 2005
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
I was drawn into this issue of SP2 having 2 versions when showing my daughter (who had a new Dell computer with MS Office, Student and Teacher edition installed) how to use Disk cleanup. My own version of MS Office Pro is 2002; hers is 2003, I guess, judging from what I found next. I showed her how to bring up disk cleanup and she had a file category: Office setup files, that my older machine does not offer. Close to 300 MB of space was at stake. Still, her machine had an obscenely huge hard disk and since I didn't know if it was safe to erase these files, I recommended that she leave them alone until she _knew_ they could go. The first clear reference I found on the web was:
http://www.azacc.org/windows_cleanup.htm
It insists that 2 versions of SP2 exist: A "client version" (50 MB) and a "Full file" (100 MB), and that if one has the Client Version, then it might be best not to clean the Office setup files out.
Posted by: George at November 27, 2005 10:03 AMWould you care to comment?
Oops. Dumb mistake. In the above comment I'm confusing XP SP2 with Office SP2. Wish I could take it back
Sorry.
George
Posted by: George at November 27, 2005 12:56 PMI have SP2 installed, but it does not show up in the ADD or REMOVE listing and I would like to remove it, in order to re-install my WIN XP home Edition with the original CD I received when I bought my PC..how and where can I uninstall SP2 if it cannot be found. And YES, It IS installed...
Posted by: apeke at July 20, 2006 8:13 AMThank you...
Sincerely,
Apeke
How do I find out if my XPHome edition is 64 bit or 32 bit?
Posted by: Richard Amerson at February 9, 2007 2:30 PMactually due to viruses now i cant see control panel,,i cant check the properties of my comp,,nor i can visit Add/remove etc......i receive this error "c:\windows\system32\rundll32.exe"........now i want to know wat is the vesion of my windows XP so i can try to repair i have tried but it was sayin that my windows is newer than the Xp on CD....? i dont know what should be done/? plz help me ..
Posted by: allen at January 9, 2011 7:17 AM