Windows Vista and XP Service Packs
Posted on March 25, 2008
Filed Under Security, Windows |
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 has had a staggered release history but as of last week, it is finally available for download from Windows Update.
On February 14th, Windows Vista SP1 was released via the MSDN & TechNet Plus Subscription programs, Volume Licensing, and the TechBeta program.
On March 18, Microsoft released Windows Vista SP1 to Windows Update but if you don’t manually update your copy of Windows, you won’t get it. It won’t be until mid-April until Windows Update will deliver SP1 automatically, providing of course you have automatic updates turned on.
But before you go off to manually download SP1 from Windows Update, there’s a catch. Sometimes SP1 isn’t available from Windows Update. What the heck??
In Knowledge Base article 948343 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948343) Microsoft offers 8 reasons why it might be that “Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is not available for installation from Windows Update and is not offered by Automatic Updates”. Some of them are no brainers like Cause 1 – “You are already running Windows Vista SP1″ but another could prove a bit more difficult to deal with if you really want to install SP1.
There is a reasonably small list of device drivers – software that allows Windows to communicate with and use hardware – that “are problematic on Windows Vista-based computers when you update to Windows Vista SP1.” In order to install SP1 in a computer with one or more of these device drivers, you’ll need to either install the optional updates on Windows Update first or get new drivers from the hardware manufacturer.
So should you upgrade? I wrote about SP1 and you can find it on my blog (www.bowesit.com/blog) but in a nutshell – yes. SP1 has no new features but rather is a rollup of patches and updates since Vista was released. In an effort to stay secure, the upgrade would be advisable.
And while we’re on the topic of service packs, for those who haven’t strayed into Vistaland yet, there is a new service in the pipes for Windows XP – Windows XP Service Pack 3.
XP Service Pack 2 was a major upgrade that made a lot of changes under the hood. One of the most notable was the fact that before SP2, a computer could run XP on 256 MB of RAM albeit slowly. After SP2 however that same computer needed 512 MB of RAM to run at even a decent pace. XP SP3 won’t make as many drastic changes under the hood.
Like Vista SP1, XP SP3 will include all prior critical updates but unlike Vista SP1 there will be a few feature enhancements as well. There is an excellent FAQ about XP SP3 at the SuperSite for Windows http://www.winsupersite.com/faq/xp_sp3.asp that describes the enhancements and new features in layman’s terms.
XP SP3 has been in testing for some time now but there is little indication as to when it will actually be released. According to the SuperSite for Windows, the more than three years that have passed since XP SP2 was released is a result of a lack of manpower. Apparently Microsoft dedicated many of its resources to getting Windows Vista to market and this delayed Windows XP updates.
With the poor rap that Windows Vista has been getting and the stall in Windows XP development that resulted from Vista’s shove to market, let’s hope both Service Packs are well received.
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