What is the scope of SP1
Reviewed by: Robert Vamosi (from CNET), Reviewed on 2/07/2008
A little more than one year after its release, Windows Vista will receive its first service pack update in March. Microsoft says the pack will offer better compatibility with third-party hardware, increased reliability, tighter security, and better performance
But unlike the last Windows Service Pack release, Windows XP SP2–which offered users a new Windows Firewall, an improved Automatic Updates feature, and a pop-up ad blocker for Internet Explorer–Windows Vista SP1 is largely a code update, devoid of new eye candy, and very light on “must-have” features for home users.
Most of the features touted by Microsoft are for the Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate editions of the operating system.
Our advice: Be patient, and don’t download it once it becomes available. Wait until Windows Vista SP1 is offered to your PC via Microsoft’s Automatic Updates service.
Installation
Windows Vista SP1 will arrive one of three ways. Most users will automatically receive the update via Windows Update. Microsoft says that users will only receive the changes specific for their computer to cut down on network traffic and download times.
Users with limited or no Internet connectivity, or who need to update more than one PC, will be able to download a complete image of Windows Vista SP1 via DVD. Volume license customers (enterprises) will receive an integrated DVD media package for installation on new PCs.
Before installing SP1, all users running Windows Vista RTM (that is, if you bought your computer with Vista preinstalled) will need to install three updates from Microsoft. Microsoft’s Windows Update will automatically detect and install these updates prior to the release of Windows Vista SP1.
Two of these updates increase the success rate for installing Windows Vista SP1; one is necessary only if you have Windows Vista Enterprise or Windows Vista Ultimate installed.
While all this sounds complicated, Microsoft says it has learned from Windows XP SP2, an upgrade that sometimes stranded users with long, overnight downloads. Windows Vista is modular, thus the upgrade will download only the bites of code necessary for your specific system.
If you have enabled Automatic Updates, in theory, you should have a much shorter download and installation of the upgrade than someone who hasn’t kept up with the numerous updates since Windows Vista’s release.
Despite the many changes within the code, Windows Vista SP1 does not change the basic hardware requirements for running the different editions of Windows Vista.
Using a disc provided by Microsoft, we found the upgrade of Windows Vista to SP1 on a typical Acer Travelmate required about 1 hour. During that time, the computer was unusable and automatically rebooted several times. A display informed us exactly where the install was in terms of overall progress (for example, “Configuring update, stage 1 of 3, 34 percent complete”).
Should you, for any reason, want to uninstall this upgrade, Microsoft allows you to do so, although the three preinstallation updates cannot be removed.
Features
Where Windows XP SP2 introduced the Windows Security Center, and changed the existing Windows Firewall, Windows Vista SP1 introduces almost no visible change to your desktop. There are no new features to view, with almost all of the nearly 300 changes occurring under the hood, and mostly intended for Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions.
Specific reliability improvements include the prevention of data loss while ejecting NT file system file-system-formatted removable media; enhancements to TCP/IP Version 6; improved driver sleep and wake-up times; improved Meeting Space connections; improved Remote Assistance applications; and it includes Encrypting File System in the Windows Vista file-backup set.
For performance, Microsoft says SP1 uses less bandwidth when browsing network shares, and automatically selects between wireless and wired when more than one is offered. There are also many tweaks and improvements in ReadyDrive (requires the use of special hybrid drives) and ReadyBoost (requires special USB drives), and SuperFetch (requires a specific amount of RAM).
As a result, users currently running Windows SuperFetch will notice, after installing Windows Vista SP1, their system is slower. Microsoft says that’s because SP1 erases the existing SuperFetch data. As new data is collected, the system will respond “within a few days,” Microsoft says.
There are many new standards introduced with SP1. For example, there’s a new Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, x64 Extensible Firmware Interface network boot, Direct3D 10.1 for 3D gaming, new flash based xFAT, identifies HD-DVD and Blu-ray drives as HD drives, supports SD Advanced Direct Memory Access, second-generation Windows Media Center Extenders, enhances the MPEG-2 decoder, and enhances support for Windows Network Projector.
For security, SP1 improves the Bitlocker encryption in Windows Vista Enterprise and Windows Ultimate by adding multifunction authentication methods; moreover, Microsoft now allows encryption support for volumes other than the bootable volume. SP1 also includes some Smart Card enhancements, and allows for biometric, as opposed to PIN, access to Smart Cards.
Within Vista, SP1 creates a more secure PIN channel for authentication.
For most home users, the new features will have little or no effect on the day-to-day use of their systems.
As with previous Windows service packs, Windows Vista SP1 will include all of the previously released updates for Windows Vista, including all security, reliability, and performance improvements. Many of these improvements were driven by customer requests and the WER, as noted above.
Microsoft says it will make the following quality improvements in Vista SP1.
Security improvements include previously-announced changes to Windows Security Center that will allow third-party security software makers to more effectively communicate with and replace Microsoft’s security dashboard with their own solutions, new APIs aimed at helping security software makers work with the Kernel Patch Protection feature in 64-bit versions of Vista (also previously announced), changes to RemoteApp and the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), the addition of a new Elliptical Curve Cryptography (ECC) pseudo-random number generator (PRNG), and a change to BitLocker Drive Encryption that adds optional multifactor authentication method combining keys protected by a TPM hardware module, a Startup Key stored on a USB memory key device, and a user-generated personal identification number.
Reliability. For reliability, Vista SP1 will include better reliability and compatibility with newer graphics cards, improved reliability when using notebook computers with an external display, improved networking configuration reliability, improved reliability of systems that are upgraded from XP to Vista, better compatibility with many printers, and increased reliability and performance when entering and resuming from sleep mode.
Performance. Vista SP1 adds a number of performance improvements as well by increasing the speed of copying and extracting files, increasing the performance of Hibernate and Resume, increasing the performance of domain-joined PCs when working offline from the domain, improving the performance of Internet Explorer (IE) 7 by reducing CPU utilization and speeding JavaScript parsing, improving battery life on certain mobile systems by reducing screen redraws and thus CPU utilization, increasing the performance of the CTRL+ALT+DEL logon dialog, and improving the performance of browsing network file shares.
Administrative improvements
Vista SP1 will include a number of changes aimed at the system administrators who deploy, support, and maintain Vista-based systems. These changes include:
BitLocker Drive Encryption. In the initial version of Vista, BitLocker could only automatically encrypt the C: drive. Now, in SP1, BitLocker can also optionally encrypt other drive volumes (D:, E:, and so on), as is possible with Windows Server 2008.
Terminal Service printing. Local printing from a Windows Terminal Services session will be improved.
Network Diagnostics. Windows Vista SP1 will add a new version of the Network Diagnostics tool that will also help administrators and end users diagnose common file sharing problems. (Available from the Diagnose and Repair link in Network and Sharing.)
Disk Defragmenter. The built-in Disk Defragmenter service will be updated so that customers can configure exactly which volumes are automatically defragged.
Group Policy. Vista SP1 will include a number of Group Policy (GP) changes. Most controversial, the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) will be uninstalled so that the GPEdit management console can be used to manage local policies. Microsoft will also ship a tool before SP1 that will let admins add comments to Group Policy Objects (GPOs) and individual GP settings.
Support for new hardware and standards
Since Windows Vista shipped in early 2007, a number of emerging new hardware types and international standards have emerged. SP1 will address these changes by adding support for them to Windows Vista. They include:
Extended FAT (exFAT) file system. A future standard for flash memory storage and consumer-oriented mobile devices. Based on FAT, exFAT adds support for longer file names and other improvements.
Secure Digital (SD) Advanced Direct Memory Access (DMA). This update to SD technology improves transfer performance while decreasing CPU utilization. It will require SD DMA-compliant host controllers.
EFI network booting on x64 systems. In the initial shipping version of Windows Vista, 64-bit (x64) versions of the OS could boot on EFI-compliant PCs, which replace ancient BIOS technology with a more modern solution. With SP1, EFI-based x64 Vista systems can also support network boot, a feature that was previously available only on 32-bit (x86) Vista versions on BIOS-based PCs.
DirectX 10.1. Vista SP1 will support Microsoft’s latest multimedia and gaming libraries.
Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol (SSTP). Vista SP1 will add support for the SSTP remote access tunneling protocol
What are your thoughts about Windows Vista Service Pack 1?
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very nice and informative