Vista SP1 will arrives in March

Yep, the much awaited Vista patch or service pack 1 has been released to manufacturing and will be available in mid-march, about a month from now.

vista-sp1-released-to-manufacturing news

Neat. One thing I don't like though: it's not possible to make your own Vista DVDs with integrated SP1 (no slipstream functionality) - that is supposedly only possible with SP2.

And apparently the installation can take a long time, up to several hours…

It seems win/xp SP-3 is being held back purposely to help vista SP-1 promotion priority.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1…9247733,00.htm

Windows XP-pro with SP-3 will probably still cut-the-mustard for many pc gamers for quite some time yet.

With SP3 for XP on the way and the problems I've had with Vista I've decided to go back to XP for my latest machine. The OS runs like a pig and with Windows 7 seemingly rushing to release I think it's safe to dump the OS.

I thought it would be "Vista SP1 will arrives in pieces".

Originally Posted by Wulf
It seems win/xp SP-3 is being held back purposely to help vista SP-1 promotion priority.

Not surprising at all.

Windows XP-pro with SP-3 will probably still cut-the-mustard for many pc gamers for quite some time yet.

I just wonder how many games will have difficulties from then on ?

Wasn't this so with every fixpack so far ?

hmm SP 3 eh? wonder what will that improve

Originally Posted by gaboru93
hmm SP 3 eh? wonder what will that improve

Perhaps it will create a bug that makes you upgrade to vista?

Vista SP1 installed. And ran Crysis and Oblivion without problem but unfortunately didn't take speed test before installing the Service Pack 1, so don't know any improvement in frame rate.

Copy small files now slightly faster, the Windows defragmenter come with option to specify which drives to defrag, and also much faster to finish.

My z5500 with X-fi somehow became far more louder; if i turn all the way up to the 70% of the total speaker volume, it really scare me….

Got it too. For some reason it required activation after installation, online activation didn't work ("key already in use") so I had to activate it by phone… Very annoying, but now I have SP1.

How do you get SP1? Download or order a disc? I still have an OEM of premium sitting on my shelf to install.

For now, only via the integrated download via Windows Update. Standalone versions are supposed to be available in a month or so.

The installation took me about 40 minutes, far shorter than i expected. But i think mostly depend on your internet speed anyway. Not Windows re-activation needed on my part after the update.

I got Home Premium OEM too, and in normal condition after you just finish installing Vista, Windows will informs you on updates available (including SP1). Other users with Vista already installed should receive the update notice from Microsoft any time now (i received it 12 hours ago) unless you turn off the automatic update feature (when turn on you still have options to install or not for any available updates).

Auto updated SP1 in ultimate version early today but ran with noticeable continuous lag, was disappointed so removed it, had to do a full re-format and Vista re-install but this time in update history enabled option to 'hide' SP1. Now running faster than ever without it. Might try again some time in the future.

Originally Posted by Wulf
Auto updated SP1 in ultimate version early today but ran with noticeable continuous lag

Might this have something to do with it? (from the list of notable changes in SP1) -

The Windows Vista SP1 install process clears the user-specific data that is used by Windows to optimize performance, which may make the system feel less responsive immediately after install. As the customer uses their SP1 PC, the system will be retrained over the course of a few hours or days and will return to the previous level of responsiveness.

Also, operating systems do tend to be faster after a fresh install, so.. dunno. Mine is running fine.

Yes indeed Arhu, that explains it well.

I left the pc running for 6 hours perhaps i should have left it for a couple of days, in fact if a small menu had popped up explaining this i would have.
There must be others like me or people in a hurry.

Now i know what to expect when i retry, many thanks.

Ha! Objective evidence that SuperFetch and ReadyBoost actually *work* -- enough to make a difference so big that you went and re-installed your entire system! Take that, O ye of little faith!

Thanks for taking that bullet, Wulf -- had I not come across this post, I might well have done the same.