Windows Vista SP1 - Review & Instillation Process

15 December 2007 10:36€

What does the RC behold?

Well, to be completely honest you can’t see much of what the service pack has to offer because it’s mostly tweaking the files that run your pc to make it run as smooth and as quickly as possible. There is however two things I did see, remembering that this is only my first day with SP1, so I may find more.

        I.             The very first new feature you see is a brand-spanking new boot screen – it looks alright but dare I say not as nice as the first hidden one in the first Windows Vista release – but for those who just stuck to the green bar this is a treat.

     II.             The other feature is the fact that Disk Defragmentation now hosts two new options. You can choose whether or not you want to have selected partitions to be defragmented when the scheduled defrag is undergo or you can manually select the partitions you want to defrag there and then.

   III.             I was most unfortunate to find that the talked about ‘Create a backup disk’ maintenance tool was not included in the RC. I don’t know whether it has been scrapped all together or if Microsoft want us to wait a little while longer for the final release to be up for download.

IV.       Also you can now change the volume levels for each sound device on your computer, for example if you have a HDMI input you can have that volume set to 50% less than your normal speakers, or you could have your desktop speakers at 80% and your headphones at 20%. It's hard to explain but you'll see what I mean once you have it installed.

Downloading and Installing the RC.

It’s a very easy process but it can be time consuming so I suggest you dedicate a whole afternoon (and by that I mean two-three hours) if you are going to install. Follow these simple steps and you should be problem-free.

How to download.

        I.             To download go to http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsvista/bb969104.aspx

     II.             Download either the 64bit or 32bit version, save the file to your computer.

   III.             DO NOT LAUNCH UNTIL YOU HAVE READ BELOW!!!

Before you install.

        I.             I customise my computer a lot and so I have Vista Glazz installed and the MS files patched. With the files patched I found a problem with the service pack – my Aero interface didn’t work because of a corrupted file so I recommend unpatching the files.

     II.             To do that open vista glazz, click agree, and then unpatch both of the files that were patched.

Instillation.

The instillation is a very easy process. Simply

        I.             Open the file from your hard disk and accept the security warning if you get one.

     II.             Click next. The instillation is now copying files to your computer ready for instillation.

   III.             Depending on the options you selected the computer will either automatically shut down or wait for you to logoff.

  IV.             The next time you logoff the computer does everything automatically. It starts by configuring and installing any recent updates you have not installed and then goes into installing the service pack. If you want to be first to see the new boot screen check out the third time your computer restarts.

     V.             After instillation is complete you can logon again and begin your SP1 experience.

Help Microsoft make a better Vista.

By giving feedback via the shortcut on your desktop you can help Microsoft make a better Vista SP1 when it is finally released in the first three months of 2008.

Vista SP1 is an evaluation copy. This doesn’t mean that your copy of Windows is no longer genuine it just means your are on a time trial service that will run out in June 2008. It’s recommended to uninstall the RC and by then you should be able to install the actual release of SP1.