Microsoft Windows XP Plus! Service Pack

Microsoft Windows XP Plus! Service Pack is Microsoft’s SP for the Plus! add-on, released as an enhancement pack for XP users. Being a Service Pack, it includes a collection of updates and bug fixes for the original Plus! product.

Microsoft Plus! was designed as a commercial OS improvement package that would typically include a combination of screensavers, games, themes and multimedia applications.

The first edition of this product was created for Windows 95 and development continued throughout Windows 98, Windows ME and XP, being discontinued in Vista, in favor of Windows Ultimate Extras.

The Plus! edition for Windows XP was designed mainly to highlight the capabilities of XP’s Windows Media Player and DirectX 3D. As such, the package included themes and screensavers, as well as a DJ-ing application, MP3 converter, CD Label Maker, Speaker Enhancement, a voice command application, as well as skins and 3D visualizations for WMP. In the Games section, it brought Plus! Hyperbowl, Russian Square and Labyrinth.

Soon after the release of the original Plus! product, Microsoft made a few adjustments and additions and bundled all of them in a Service Pack, which consisted of a rich list of CD Label Maker templates and more profiles for the Speaker Enhancement utility. Moreover, some issues discovered in the MP3 converter were fixed.

All of the above considered, it’s safe to say that Microsoft Windows XP Plus! Service Pack was brought as an enhancement for a pack that was already meant as an enhancement for Windows XP. The updates provided in this SP are not critical and not even remotely close to tempting, if you ask us.