We haven’t given an update on Microsoft Service Packs in a while but here it is: 

Service Pack 3 for Office 2003 was released a while back. It includes several security upgrades, the most important of which makes it much more difficult for Office files with malicious coding embedded in them to do any harm when you open them. Instead the software essentially converts the file to the latest version (2007) of the document which strips out the malicious code.

As with any service pack there are lots of other fixes and updates and the Service Pack also consolidates several other security updates that have been released separately. There are also several tweaks intended to improve performance and stability.

If you’re still using Office XP or earlier or Windows 2000 or earlier, shame on you. Those programs are so outdated you’re losing functionality and productivity. You should upgrade immediately to a newer version.

Which brings us to Office 2007. No service pack has been released yet. I think 2007 is worth upgrading to already but it is a memory hog. Make sure you have plenty of CPU and RAM. And speaking of needing a lot of CPU and RAM, what about Vista? Still no service pack on it either, though Microsoft says it will be out in the first quarter of ’08. They have released the beta version to testers so that’s a good sign. I do NOT recommend upgrading to Vista until the SP is ready. If you’re buying a new computer though, give it some serious thought.