Top 10 Reasons to Deploy Windows XP Service Pack 2
Well, I now know that I have to upgrade to XP and have SP2 on my new system. In this article they mention that a patched XPsp2 system passed the GRC.com "shields up" test with a perfect score!
This is the test that I use to determine if my machine is acceptable or not.
With all the other security and functionality fixes made with SP2, it may finally be 'good enough' for me to trust it and upgrade from Windows 2000.