Beta News is reporting that significant piece of the Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) has been released to testers, moving the significant update closer to release. Windows Update version 5, an important part of the SP2 release has reached Release Candidate 2 status.

Windows Update V5 presents users with a less cluttered interface, resumes interrupted downloads, toggles between custom and express installations, customized downloads that utilized improved patching technology, only the latest updates, and drastically improved automatic updating.

I've been running XP SP2 RC1 on my Tablet PC and I agree with this description. The new Windows Update is a big improvement in design and should make it easier for less technical users to understand what needs to be done to keep their XP installation up to date.

Service Pack 2 has secured the perimeter around Windows XP with a new mix of security features including: a new version of Internet Explorer; improved memory protection; e-mail safeguards for Outlook Express; the Windows Firewall; new security settings for Windows Media Player 9; redesigned networking components; and a new Windows "Security Center" to coordinate and manage security features.