PCTips Box

I downloaded the release candidate of Vista Service Pack 1 yesterday and was prepared to wait till its public debut next week before writing about it. But after upgrading a few machines here and doing some tests, I changed my mind. If Microsoft’s decision to ditch the WGA kill switch in SP1 didn’t convince you, would you be interested in a 300% increase in tripling your network file transfer speeds?

Forget the reports you might have read about SP1 resulting in no performance boost. That story was based on a silly artificial benchmark involving scripting of Office applications. Back here in the real world, where gigabit network connections are now commonplace, you’ll see at least one huge improvement when transferring files over network connections. (more…)

Microsoft plans to bundle a cryptographically flawed pseudo random number generator in its upcoming service pack for Windows Vista. Cryptographers have expressed concern about a possible backdoor in a standard for random number generators approved by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) this year.

The cryptographically weak Dual_EC_DRBG approach, which is based on the mathematics of elliptic curves, was one of four “deterministic random bit generators”, approved by the NIST in March.Flaws in the approach (Dual_EC_DRBG) first emerged in August at the Crypto 2007 conference when cryptographers Dan Shumow and Niels Ferguson demonstrated that two constants in the standard used to define the algorithm’s elliptic curve have a relationship with a second, secret set of numbers. (more…)

The big news about Windows Vista SP1, whose Release Candidate became public a couple of days ago, is its improved performance and reliability, thanks to over 400 hotfixes and updates. However, that’s only part of the story.

New Hardware Support

Windows Vista SP1 includes

* Support for GPUs supporting DirectX 10.1, which improves 3D rendering (more…)

I downloaded the release candidate of Vista Service Pack 1 yesterday and was prepared to wait till its public debut next week before writing about it. But after upgrading a few machines here and doing some tests, I changed my mind. If Microsoft’s decision to ditch the WGA kill switch in SP1 didn’t convince you, would you be interested in a 300% increase in tripling your network file transfer speeds?

Forget the reports you might have read about SP1 resulting in no performance boost. That story was based on a silly artificial benchmark involving scripting of Office applications. Back here in the real world, where gigabit network connections are now commonplace, you’ll see at least one huge improvement when transferring files over network connections. (more…)

Microsoft is offering Windows Vista users the means to take Windows Vista compatibility, reliability and stability up a notch ahead of the release of the first service pack for the operating system. In this context, the Redmond company has been hammering away at Vista, since the client hot the shelves in January 2007 with constant refreshes served through the Windows Update infrastructure. Although Windows Update is not yet a fully fledged substitute for the service pack release practice, Microsoft has hinted that small and incremental updates are the way of the future, in contrast to large and bloated refreshes.

Starting with its debut on the market, Vista has had quite a rough ride, experiencing a plethora of issues, mostly centered around software and hardware incompatibilities, as well as performance. (more…)

It looks like the beta version of Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista will be released in the next few weeks to obliging volunteers and manufacturers. It’s not going to be on the same scale as the infamous Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, which included some major security upgrades and replaced large chunks of the operating system, but it is still fairly large, at a little over 45Mb, it covers quite a lot of ground and we are assured, will fix a few niggling problems.

What we know so far is that it will include support for a new file format called ExFAT, which is designed for use with flash memory devices. There will also be support for SD Advanced DMA, for faster file transfer and reduced CPU workload. (more…)

Now is the time and the time is now: let’s talk about Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1). Much has been made of what will or will not be included in SP1 and when it will be released (some accurate, some otherwise). I’m here to set the story straight: we’re in the process of developing and deploying a Beta version of SP1. This post will describe for you what to expect from that effort and how you can be involved in the process.

First, a note on service packs. As you are aware, service packs are part of our traditional software lifecycle; they’re something we do for most major products as a commitment to continuous improvement. But, the servicing situation has changed with the advent of Windows Vista, as we no longer rely solely on service packs as the main vehicle used to deploy system fixes and improvements. (more…)