beele
December 12th, 2007, 10:57 AM
A few days ago I took note of the first service pack for vista going to RC stage for the big public.
Here's a list of changes (most of them) that will be made by it. Quite Impressive I must admit.
Adds support for new UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) industry standard PC firmware for 64-bit systems with functional parity with legacy BIOS firmware, which allows Windows Vista SP1 to install to GPT format disks, boot and resume from hibernate using UEFI firmware.
Adds support for Direct3D® 10.1, an update to Direct3D 10 that extends the API to support new hardware features, enabling 3D application and game developers to make more complete and efficient use of the upcoming generations of graphics hardware.
Adds support for exFAT, a new file system supporting larger overall capacity and larger files, which will be used in Flash memory storage and consumer devices.
Adds support for SD Advanced DMA (ADMA) on compliant SD standard host controllers. This new transfer mechanism, which is expected to be supported in SD controllers soon, will improve transfer performance and decrease CPU utilization.
Adds support for creating a single DVD media that boots on PCs with either BIOS or EFI.
Enhances support for high density drives by adding new icons and labels that will identify HD-DVD and Blu-ray Drives as high density drives.
Enhances the MPEG-2 decoder to support content protection across a user accessible bus on Media Center systems configured with Digital Cable Tuner hardware. This also effectively enables higher levels of hardware decoder acceleration for commercial DVD playback on some hardware.
SP1 addresses issues many of the most common causes of crashes and hangs in Windows Vista, as reported by Windows Error Reporting. These include issues relating to Windows Calendar, Windows Media Player, and a number of drivers included with Windows Vista.
An improved SRT (Startup Repair Tool), which is part of the Windows Recovery environment (WinRE), can now fix PCs unbootable due to certain missing OS files.
Improves the performance of browsing network file shares by consuming less bandwidth.
Improves power consumption when the display is not changing by allowing the processor to remain in its sleep state which consumes less energy.
Improves power consumption and battery life by addressing an issue that causes a hard disk to continue spinning when it should spin down, in certain circumstances.
Improves the speed of adding and extracting files to and from a compressed (zipped) folder.
Significantly improves the speed of moving a directory with many files underneath.
Improves performance while copying files using BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Service).
25% faster when copying files locally on the same disk on the same machine
45% faster when copying files from a remote non-Windows Vista system to a SP1 system
50% faster when copying files from a remote SP1 system to a local SP1 system
Improves responsiveness when doing many kinds of file or media manipulations. For example, with Windows Vista today, copying files after deleting a different set of files can make the copy operation take longer than needed. In SP1, the file copy time is the same as if no files were initially deleted.
Improves the copy progress estimation when copying files within Windows Explorer to about two seconds.
Improves the time to read large images by approximately 50%.
Improves IE performance on certain Jscript intensive websites, bringing performance in line with previous IE releases.
Improves the effectiveness of a Windows ReadyBoost™ device in reducing the time to resume from standby and hibernate by increasing the amount of data stored in the ReadyBoost device that can be used during a resume cycle.
Includes improvements to Windows Superfetch™ that help to further improve resume times, in many environments.
Improves the time to resume from standby for a certain class of USB Hubs by approximately 18%.
Improves overall media performance by reducing many glitches.
SP1 includes Secure Development Lifecycle process updates, where Microsoft identifies the root cause of each security bulletin and improves our internal tools to eliminate code patterns that could lead to future vulnerabilities.
Enhanced the BitLocker encryption support to volumes other than bootable volumes in Windows Vista (for Enterprise and Ultimate SKUs).
Adds full support for the latest IEEE draft of 802.11n wireless networking.
Allows users and administrators to control which volumes the disk defragmenter runs on.
Allows users and administrators using Network Diagnostics to solve the most common file sharing problems, not just network connection problems.
Enables support for hotpatching, a reboot-reduction servicing technology designed to maximize uptime. It works by allowing Windows components to be updated (or "patched") while they are still in use by a running process. Hotpatch-enabled update packages are installed via the same methods as traditional update packages, and will not trigger a system reboot.
Improves OS deployment by enabling 64-bit versions of Windows Vista to be installed from a 32-bit OS. This will allow IT professionals to maintain just a single WinPE image.
Improves overall install time for updates by optimizing the query for installed OS updates.
SP1 includes a number of changes which allow computer manufacturers and consumers to select a default desktop search program similar to the way they currently select defaults for third-party web browsers and media players.
With SP1, Windows Vista will report the amount of system memory installed rather than report the amount of system memory available to the OS.
SP1 reduces the number of UAC (User Account Control) prompts from 4 to 1 when creating or renaming a folder at a protected location. FINALLY!
Improvements in the Licensing User Interface and User Experience including more details in the help about activation and what happens if user does not activate; more detailed and descriptive dialog text; raw error codes replaced with easily comprehensible text.
SP1 modifies the text in the Ultimate Extras Control Panel to describe the Ultimate Extras program in more general terms.
While not reflected in the initial release candidate this week, we will also be making changes effective with SP1 in how we differentiate the experience customers have using non-genuine versions of our software. This is based on feedback we heard from volume license customers in particular as part of our Windows Genuine Advantage program.
Also coming with SP1 but not in the current release candidate, we will also be including updates that deal with two exploits we have seen, which can affect system stability for our customers. The OEM Bios exploit, which involves modifying system files and the BIOS of the motherboard to mimic a type of product activation performed on copies of Windows that are pre-installed by OEMs in the factory. The Grace Timer exploit, which attempts to reset the “grace time” limit between installation and activation to something like the year 2099 in some cases.
I'm downloading it right now, I'll keep you guys posted.
32BIT
Download link http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=BE34577A-E925-48FB-9D6D-50FE9461F808&displaylang=en
64BIT
Download link http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=nl&FamilyID=c21c3978-3b7d-4d64-873b-3c9d26982d7a
:eng101: Take note: This is a release candidate and is not a final product.
EDIT:And now no more -reps for there being no 64 bit.
Here's a list of changes (most of them) that will be made by it. Quite Impressive I must admit.
Adds support for new UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) industry standard PC firmware for 64-bit systems with functional parity with legacy BIOS firmware, which allows Windows Vista SP1 to install to GPT format disks, boot and resume from hibernate using UEFI firmware.
Adds support for Direct3D® 10.1, an update to Direct3D 10 that extends the API to support new hardware features, enabling 3D application and game developers to make more complete and efficient use of the upcoming generations of graphics hardware.
Adds support for exFAT, a new file system supporting larger overall capacity and larger files, which will be used in Flash memory storage and consumer devices.
Adds support for SD Advanced DMA (ADMA) on compliant SD standard host controllers. This new transfer mechanism, which is expected to be supported in SD controllers soon, will improve transfer performance and decrease CPU utilization.
Adds support for creating a single DVD media that boots on PCs with either BIOS or EFI.
Enhances support for high density drives by adding new icons and labels that will identify HD-DVD and Blu-ray Drives as high density drives.
Enhances the MPEG-2 decoder to support content protection across a user accessible bus on Media Center systems configured with Digital Cable Tuner hardware. This also effectively enables higher levels of hardware decoder acceleration for commercial DVD playback on some hardware.
SP1 addresses issues many of the most common causes of crashes and hangs in Windows Vista, as reported by Windows Error Reporting. These include issues relating to Windows Calendar, Windows Media Player, and a number of drivers included with Windows Vista.
An improved SRT (Startup Repair Tool), which is part of the Windows Recovery environment (WinRE), can now fix PCs unbootable due to certain missing OS files.
Improves the performance of browsing network file shares by consuming less bandwidth.
Improves power consumption when the display is not changing by allowing the processor to remain in its sleep state which consumes less energy.
Improves power consumption and battery life by addressing an issue that causes a hard disk to continue spinning when it should spin down, in certain circumstances.
Improves the speed of adding and extracting files to and from a compressed (zipped) folder.
Significantly improves the speed of moving a directory with many files underneath.
Improves performance while copying files using BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Service).
25% faster when copying files locally on the same disk on the same machine
45% faster when copying files from a remote non-Windows Vista system to a SP1 system
50% faster when copying files from a remote SP1 system to a local SP1 system
Improves responsiveness when doing many kinds of file or media manipulations. For example, with Windows Vista today, copying files after deleting a different set of files can make the copy operation take longer than needed. In SP1, the file copy time is the same as if no files were initially deleted.
Improves the copy progress estimation when copying files within Windows Explorer to about two seconds.
Improves the time to read large images by approximately 50%.
Improves IE performance on certain Jscript intensive websites, bringing performance in line with previous IE releases.
Improves the effectiveness of a Windows ReadyBoost™ device in reducing the time to resume from standby and hibernate by increasing the amount of data stored in the ReadyBoost device that can be used during a resume cycle.
Includes improvements to Windows Superfetch™ that help to further improve resume times, in many environments.
Improves the time to resume from standby for a certain class of USB Hubs by approximately 18%.
Improves overall media performance by reducing many glitches.
SP1 includes Secure Development Lifecycle process updates, where Microsoft identifies the root cause of each security bulletin and improves our internal tools to eliminate code patterns that could lead to future vulnerabilities.
Enhanced the BitLocker encryption support to volumes other than bootable volumes in Windows Vista (for Enterprise and Ultimate SKUs).
Adds full support for the latest IEEE draft of 802.11n wireless networking.
Allows users and administrators to control which volumes the disk defragmenter runs on.
Allows users and administrators using Network Diagnostics to solve the most common file sharing problems, not just network connection problems.
Enables support for hotpatching, a reboot-reduction servicing technology designed to maximize uptime. It works by allowing Windows components to be updated (or "patched") while they are still in use by a running process. Hotpatch-enabled update packages are installed via the same methods as traditional update packages, and will not trigger a system reboot.
Improves OS deployment by enabling 64-bit versions of Windows Vista to be installed from a 32-bit OS. This will allow IT professionals to maintain just a single WinPE image.
Improves overall install time for updates by optimizing the query for installed OS updates.
SP1 includes a number of changes which allow computer manufacturers and consumers to select a default desktop search program similar to the way they currently select defaults for third-party web browsers and media players.
With SP1, Windows Vista will report the amount of system memory installed rather than report the amount of system memory available to the OS.
SP1 reduces the number of UAC (User Account Control) prompts from 4 to 1 when creating or renaming a folder at a protected location. FINALLY!
Improvements in the Licensing User Interface and User Experience including more details in the help about activation and what happens if user does not activate; more detailed and descriptive dialog text; raw error codes replaced with easily comprehensible text.
SP1 modifies the text in the Ultimate Extras Control Panel to describe the Ultimate Extras program in more general terms.
While not reflected in the initial release candidate this week, we will also be making changes effective with SP1 in how we differentiate the experience customers have using non-genuine versions of our software. This is based on feedback we heard from volume license customers in particular as part of our Windows Genuine Advantage program.
Also coming with SP1 but not in the current release candidate, we will also be including updates that deal with two exploits we have seen, which can affect system stability for our customers. The OEM Bios exploit, which involves modifying system files and the BIOS of the motherboard to mimic a type of product activation performed on copies of Windows that are pre-installed by OEMs in the factory. The Grace Timer exploit, which attempts to reset the “grace time” limit between installation and activation to something like the year 2099 in some cases.
I'm downloading it right now, I'll keep you guys posted.
32BIT
Download link http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=BE34577A-E925-48FB-9D6D-50FE9461F808&displaylang=en
64BIT
Download link http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=nl&FamilyID=c21c3978-3b7d-4d64-873b-3c9d26982d7a
:eng101: Take note: This is a release candidate and is not a final product.
EDIT:And now no more -reps for there being no 64 bit.