KB951646 and Office 2003 service pack 3

[HN_IT]

I'm still not getting a direct answer after reading KB951646. What I'm
trying to understand is: Let say I have Office 2003 sp2, but after I apply
post Office 2003 sp3 security patches to my current Office 2003 sp2 (but have
not apply Office 2003 sp3), will my Office 2003 service pack level considered
to be on sp3? Possibly, it is also considered as higher than sp3? Also,
generally when we apply service packs, it's not only security patches, but
also software enhancements or functionalities; i.e. "other updates" and not
only "security patches". Please help clear my understanding.

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

It can depend on where you look. The 'Help About' dialog may show SP3, but it's not considered a reliable method for determining
the update level. The methods here are MS's recommendations
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/821549/en-us?FR=1

Assuming you can install a specific post SP3 hotfix without first installing Office 2003 SP3 (which you may not be able to do),
Office will not be at 'SP3' for the entire product suite although specific files may have version numbers higher than those same
files in Service Pack 3.

You could be in an unsupported/mixed state for a hotfix, but should not be if the update is one being 'pushed' to you via Microsoft
Update (http://update.microsoft.com)

Service Packs may generally fix functionallity but they usually don't add it, although there are exceptions

===============
I'm still not getting a direct answer after reading KB951646. What I'm
trying to understand is: Let say I have Office 2003 sp2, but after I apply post Office 2003 sp3 security patches to my current
Office 2003 sp2 (but have not apply Office 2003 sp3), will my Office 2003 service pack level considered to be on sp3? Possibly, it
is also considered as higher than sp3? Also, generally when we apply service packs, it's not only security patches, but also
software enhancements or functionalities; i.e. "other updates" and not only "security patches". Please help clear my understanding.--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*