BOOT CAMP 517 (25/03/08) – Vista Service Pack 1
Service
Packs only became big news with the release of Windows XP SP2 back in early
2005, and what a whopper that was! Until then Service Packs had been convenient
wrappers for regular bug fixes and security updates and they tended to be
distributed to users with little or no fanfare, through automatic updates or
incorporated into new releases, but XP SP2 changed all that.
Early
releases of Windows XP were riddled with security problems and all sorts of
glitches and the only way to get it back on track was for Microsoft to replace
large portions of the operating system’s code. To all intents and purposes SP2
was XP Mk II, which wouldn’t have mattered too much but for the fact that it
created a raft of new problems of its own with software and hardware crashing
or simply refusing to work.
Vista
SP1 was originally scheduled for release last autumn but after several months
delay following an extensive beta testing program, Microsoft began shipping
Vista with SP1 to PC system builders on February 14th; at the same time it was
made available for download to Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) and TechNet
Plus subscribers.
The
first to get SP1, via automatic updates and downloads, will be users of Vista
Ultimate (English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish editions), the rest of
us will be getting it over the next few days and weeks, depending which version
of Vista you are using, where in the world you live and whether or not your PC
is set for scheduled updates.
There’s
a lot riding on a smooth roll out of SP1 it with many people holding off buying
into Vista until after it has been successfully deployed. The signs are that
for most users it will be less troublesome than XP SP2 but inevitably there are
going to be problems so over the next couple of weeks we’ll be looking at
what’s in SP1, what you can do to make the installation as trouble free as
possible, and what to do if it goes wrong.
Despite
not being as wide-ranging as XP SP2, Vista SP1 is still quite a lump, weighing
in at between 50 and 700Mb, depending on your system setup. You will also need
around 7Gb of free hard disc space for the installation, though this is mainly
used for temporary files, so you’ll get most of it back afterwards. It
shouldn’t be a problem on most systems but if you were running low on space now
would be a good time to weed out and uninstall any unnecessary files and
programs to make room, (and if you are that short of space you should be thinking
seriously about a hard drive upgrade).
You
should also fix any problems that you are be having with Vista; installing SP1
on a cranky system could make matters worse. A number of applications are known
to disagree with, or stop working under SP1 – see this week’s Top Tip for more
details.
By now
you are probably wondering whether it is worth the fuss and bother? My advice
is to wait until the dust has settled – more about that next week -- but this
is an important upgrade and at the very least it will make your PC more secure.
The largest part of SP1 -- that you may or may not need -- is a roll-up of all
of the security updates and hotfixes to date. If your PC is updated
automatically you will probably have most of them already, otherwise this part
of the package is essential to ensure your PC and the data is contains is
protected. There are also improvements to behind the scenes features like the
random number generator, used by Vista’s encryption systems.
SP1
addresses performance and compatibility issues and fixes more than 100 faults
that have been identified since Vista was released a little over a year ago.
They include a bug that slows down copying and browsing files over network
connections, reducing the time Vista takes to wake up from hibernation and
switch power states and there are some tweaks to the laptop battery life
display. File compression should be a little quicker, there are some changes to
Internet Explorer 7’s JavaScript handling, the Event Viewer should open faster
and the Photos screensaver won’t take so long to close.
There
are also a number of new features, though these probably won’t be noticed by
most users, at least not yet, as they are concerned with things like improved
application and hardware support, the latter also includes new flash memory
filing systems (exFAT and an upgrade of Secure SD memory cards). Don’t expect Vista to look any different
post SP1 either, the user interface is unchanged. You may notice a small reduction
in your PC’s performance immediately after installation due to the deletion of
‘prefetch’ data, this is normal and it should be back to its old self in a few
days.
Next Week – Vista SP1, part 2
JARGON FILTER
PREFETCH
Folder containing
shortcuts and files that the operating system thinks it will need to speed up
program launching and running background processes
TOP TIP
The lengthy beta testing
program has shown Vista Service Pack 1 to be relatively trouble-free but a
number of programs have either been found to stop working, or exhibit reduced
functionality under SP1. A list of affected applications has been published in Microsoft Knowledgebase Article
935796. This includes several
well-known security and anti-virus programs (BitDefender, Juagmin AV, ZoneAlarm
Security Suite, Rising Firewall and Novell ZCM Agent) and we can expect the
list to grow once the Service Pack is released into the wild. Patches and fixes
are available now for most of the known problematic programs.
Don't forget, there's a
full archive of previous Boot Camp Top Tips at www.pctoptips.co.uk
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© R. Maybury 2008, 1902
Part 2
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