Microsoft has finally posted Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4 at www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/contents/Updates/NT4SvcPk4. (Note: You must register at support.microsoft.com before you can gain admission to the download site or view the site's content.) Service Pack 4 may have been worth the wait. By Microsoft's account, it packs more than 600 new bug fixes into one large but cohesive package that a mere mortal can install. The whopping 31MB patch (included on this month's CD) is cumulative, including all the fixes from preceding Service Packs.

In addition to year 2000 bug fixes and support for the Euro currency character, SP4 contains numerous updates aimed at tightening Internet security. Notably, NT LAN Manager log-in encryption is now much more difficult to hack, Virtual Private Networking connections to NT servers are faster and more secure, and the Service Pack closes the door on a flaw that allowed ordinary users to elevate themselves to administrator status. You'll find a complete list of SP4's hundreds of bug fixes at support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q150/7/34.asp.

SP4 also includes Internet Explorer 4.01 with Service Pack 1 ù at the time of writing, the latest shipping version of Microsoft's browser ù but it doesn't contain all the most recent security fixes.