PCTips Box

Windows Vista SP1 stand-alone packages do not contain the updated Windows Vista SP1 Help files.The updated Windows Vista Help file packages are named “Update for Help Files.”

These files are packaged separately for each language. The updated Help files have been excluded from the stand-alone SP1 packages to reduce the size of the packages. However, the updated Windows Vista Help files are contained in the retail and OEM versions of Windows Vista that include SP1. Therefore, if you perform a clean installation of a version of Windows Vista that includes SP1, you do not have to add an updated Help file. (more…)

Everything else has not failed… Well, maybe the Wow… So, when on the remnants of the failed Wow, Microsoft is now bringing in the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 cavalry. With Mark Russinovich, Microsoft Technical Fellow in the Platform and Services division at the lead, the Redmond company offered the Springboard Live! Interactive Virtual Roundtable the past week. Keyword being live, at this point in time, you can consider that you missed it. But not entirely. You can no longer participate in the roundtable, and as such the interactivity label is nothing but a label, but you can access the entire event via this link.

“Join Mark Russinovich and a panel of experts for a live, interactive discussion on adopting Windows Vista into a desktop infrastructure. (more…)

Windows Performance Tools Kit, v.4.1.1 (QFE) is, as the product’s label states, a collection of performance analysis tools. The resources are an integral part of the Windows SDK for Windows Server 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5, and essentially offer an update to WPT Kit v.4.1.0. In fact, it is WPT Kit v.4.1.0 that was shipped as a part of the Windows Server 2008 SDK. With version 4.1.1 Microsoft has resolved a couple of issues, including the fact that Windows Performance Analyzer did not execute when double-clicking an ETL file, and failed to perform power state transition analysis.

“Windows Performance Tools Kit is now shipping along with Windows SDK for Windows Server 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5. A mouthful both, to be sure, but if you use either regularly it won’t be long before they become just ‘xperf’ and ‘the SDK’. (more…)

Holding your breath while waiting for the final version of Windows XP Service Pack 3 won’t do you any good. In fact, you can go ahead and exhale now, because Microsoft is by no means in any hurry to make available the third and final service pack for Windows XP. However, the Redmond company is indeed hammering away at XP SP3, having released a new build of the service pack. While the gold bits of XP SP3 have failed to take a consistent contour on the immediate horizon, although it seemed that Windows Vista SP1 RTM would be synonymous with the releasing to manufacturing of the third service pack for XP, Microsoft confirmed a new development milestone. (more…)

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 are not the only Microsoft products being released to manufacturing this week. Cecilia Cole, WSUS Program Manager, announced that WSUS 3.0 Service Pack 1 had also reached RTM, and was subsequently made available for download. But at the same time, the RTM stage of Windows Server Update Services 3.0 SP1 following in the heels of Windows Server 2008 is not coincidental. WSUS 3.0 SP1 is in fact designed to provide support for the Redmond company’s latest server operating system. (more…)

Installing 64-bit Windows Vista Service Pack 1 from a 32-bit image of Vista SP1 is a move that has become possible with the latest stage in evolution of the latest Windows client. Along with a range of enhancements, Vista SP1 comes to the table with setup and deployment improvements. While end users will be only superficially impacted by the changes, IT professional and original equipment manufacturers will be able to enjoy the added benefits of the service pack.

SP1 is great for IT Professionals because it will make your life easier around deployment and management of the technology. You will be able to maintain a single WinPE image because you can install 64-bit versions of Vista from a 32-bit OS,” explained Deeps De Silva, Audience Marketing Manager, Microsoft Australia. (more…)

Back in June 2007, the Automated Installation Kit offered palpable proof straight from Microsoft of the existence of the first Service Pack for Windows Vista. At that time, under Steven Sinofsky, the senior vice president for the Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group, the Redmond company was not breathing a single word related to the first service pack for Vista. Half a year later and Vista SP1 is nothing more than a mundane reality, which makes it appear absurd that Microsoft has kept it under wraps for so long, gaging all information. (more…)

Having introduced the first pre-beta testing version of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 all the way back in mid-July 2007, Microsoft has come quite a long way since. The company went public with the testing process of Vista SP1 in December of the past year, making available for download the Release Candidate build of the service pack. January 2008 brought with it two Refreshes to Vista SP1 RC, the first of which was dropped to all Vista users, with Vista SP1 RC Refresh 2 limited to only 15,000 testers via Microsoft Connect. According to Microsoft, Vista SP1 brings to the table a wide range of improvements in terms of performance, stability, reliability, security, compatibility, etc. (more…)

With Windows Vista, Microsoft brought to the table an entirely overhauled activation architecture compared to Windows XP. Vista users had the possibility to install and test drive the operating system, without entering a product key. Deploying Vista without entering an activation code threw the operating system into a 30-day initial grace period. At the same time, Vista came with the Windows Software Licensing Management Tool. And via the slmgr.vbs, users had the possibility to prolong the grace period up to full 120 days, without ever entering a product key. The same is valid for Windows Vista Service Pack 1. On January 9, 2008, Microsoft made available to 15,000 testers the Windows Vista SP1 Release Candidate (RC) Refresh - Build 17128 via Microsoft update. In an email announcing the release, the company also described a method to install SP1 on a copy of Vista, by taking the product key out of the equation. (more…)

As you undoubtedly know by now, Windows Vista brought to the table DirectX 10. Microsoft failed to make DirectX 10 available for Windows XP, arguing that it would have to introduce extensive changes to the core of the operating system, in order to accommodate the new graphics technology. In this context, Vista became the vessel for DirectX 10, because despite various promises from third-parties to artificially backport DirectX 10 for Windows XP, the latest Windows client remains the sole way to access the superset of DirectX 9.x.

Microsoft touted a healthy increase in gaming and multimedia quality with DirectX 10 as an integer part of Vista’s architecture, but with the vast majority of users still running Windows XP, digital content is largely focused on Vista’s predecessor. The Redmond company was in fact
criticized by both content producers and end users for its decision to make DirectX 10 Vista exclusive, but the barrage of fire failed to deter Microsoft from its tracks. Moreover, in the first quarter of this year, Windows Vista SP1 will deliver DirectX 10.1. (more…)