Windows Experience Blog : Windows Vista SP1

Esther Choi is back and she’s feeling “Snippy”

Brandon LeBlanc — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:46:00 GMT

Esther is back with a brand new demo focusing on another cool feature in Windows Vista - Snipping Tool. Snipping Tool is really handy for anyone who needs to capture and/or send an image of their screen, a web page or document - really any time where the visual explains more than a description.

We've heard great things about the other videos we did (on Previous Versions, Live Icons and Instant Search), so our plan is to continue providing content like this. Leave a comment and let us know what you think of the video, and if you have suggestions for tips and tricks we should cover in future videos!

Also, just a reminder that you can still get the Windows Vista Product Guide - a great resource on all things Windows Vista - for FREE in paperback. All you have to do is pay for shipping. Order your copy here! The paperback guide doesn't include the new stuff in Windows Vista SP1, but you can download all of that information here

Deployed: Windows Vista SP1 RC on ALL of my PC’s

Brandon LeBlanc — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:22:00 GMT

Today Nick announced the availability of the release candidate for Windows Vista SP1. I had a chance to get the RC build of Windows Vista SP1 installed a few days ago. I decided to roll the RC out on all of my PCs which showcase a variety of device types and scenarios:

My Main Desktop PC running Windows Vista Ultimate x64 - check.
My Test/Work PC running Windows Vista Business - check.
My Dell Vostro 1500 Laptop running Windows Vista Ultimate - check.
My Samsung Q1 UMPC running Windows Vista Home Premium - check.
My Digital CableCard PC running Windows Vista Home Premium - check.

In installing the RC on my PCs, I did a combination of using the standalone installer and Windows Update. Before proceeding to install the SP1 RC bits, I first needed to uninstall the SP1 beta bits first. Users looking to install the Windows Vista SP1 RC will need to uninstall any previous version of SP1 prior to the installation of the RC from either Windows Update or the standalone installer. With Windows Update, once SP1 was downloaded, a new series of screens telling me about SP1 appeared. The same series of dialog screens seen in the standalone installer is now launched when installing Windows Vista SP1 via Windows Update. This will be really helpful to the user in installing Windows Vista SP1. Previously with the beta, there was no guidance from Windows Update in installing Windows Vista SP1 like there was with the standalone installer. The ability to catch issues like insufficient disk space or PC not on battery power has been implemented earlier in the installation process - with a simple more useful error message to the user. In installing Windows Vista SP1 over Windows Update, a series of pre-requisites must first be installed before SP1. For the RC, these pre-requisites presented themselves to me in proceeding to install SP1 from Windows Update. However, before the final version of Windows Vista SP1 is released, it is likely these pre-requisites will be installed prior to SP1's release. If you have Windows Update configured for Automatic Update - it is likely these pre-requisites will be installed automatically at night.

When logging in to my PCs for the first time after installing the Windows Vista SP1 RC, the first thing I took notice of was that none of my PCs displayed a "find device driver" pop-up like I had experienced with the beta. Previously, I had a "find display driver" pop-up for my graphics driver for the PCs I had installed the SP1 beta on. In the RC - this seems to have been fixed. Many of the improvements I took note of back in September still held up, if not better, with the RC. All of my applications continue to work including:

Sony Vegas 7
New Zune software
Visual Basic 2008 Expression
Windows Live suite of applications
Windows Live OneCare
Smart FTP
ImgBurn
Yahoo! Messenger 9 Beta
Virtual PC 2007
Paint.NET

These are just a few of the applications I use and have tested with the Windows Vista SP1 RC. I'd also like to note that Games for Windows - LIVE games such as Shadowrun and Halo 2 for Windows Vista also continue to work as expected.

A few days ago I had blogged about my new HP MediaSmart Server and deploying Windows Home Server in my home. Those unfamiliar with Windows Home Server can learn about it here. Windows Home Server is essentially the server for the home based off Windows Server 2003 SP2 code. With my PCs running the Windows Vista SP1 RC, I've seen some noticeable changes in how fast it takes for PC backups to complete. Windows Home Server uses a connector to configure backups to the server which take place over the network. With the networking fixes in Windows Vista SP1, transferring files over my network has improved tremendously. Accessing file shares on my Windows Home Server is also much more responsive.

Because of these experiences with improved network performance, I decided it was time to migrate my network to a gigabit LAN. To do so, I picked up a D-Link DIR-655 Xtreme N Gigabit Router as well as D-Link DGS-2205 gigabit switch.

Transferring recorded TV shows to my Windows Home Server is a breeze! I continue to be impressed with my network speed and responsiveness running Windows Vista SP1.

I'd also like to call out experiences on my laptop and UMPC with some SP1 improvements. Most notably is the improvement seen with my laptop and UMPC in resuming from sleep mode. Resuming from sleep is much faster. In coming out of sleep, I can now immediately use my mobile PCs rather than having to wait through a lag until the system is usable.

I've spent a total of 3 days now running a complete Windows Vista SP1 environment and am very impressed with the improvements and fixes that the RC provides over the last beta.

Experiencing Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta

Brandon LeBlanc — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 18:41:00 GMT

Today Microsoft is releasing the Beta of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 which was announced by Nick White few weeks ago. I'd like to take the opportunity to share my very own experiences with Windows Vista SP1 Beta running on several PCs of my own.

I decided to test SP1 on a variety of hardware which allows me to test a variety of scenarios:

Desktop PC (Custom-made) running Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit.
Laptop (HP tx1000) running Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit.

The most common way the user will get SP1 will be through Windows Update. That is how I installed SP1 on the HP tx1000. Before getting to the SP1, a series of 3 prerequisites had to be installed first (It was 3 for me since I'm running Windows Vista Ultimate, but users who aren't running Ultimate or Enterprise will only have 2 to install since BitLocker is not included in the other Windows Vista SKUs). I talked to Product Manager David Zipkin who explained what these prerequisites are for. The first prerequisite includes updates to the servicing stack. The second prerequisite is an update for BitLocker-capable PCs (Windows Vista Enterprise and Windows Vista Ultimate) to ensure proper servicing of Bitlocker. And the third and final prerequisite includes some updates to Windows, necessary to install and uninstall the service pack.

With me being a power user, I went into the Windows Update control panel to install the service pack and prerequisites manually but most users have Windows Update configured to automatically install updates and so the prerequisites-like other updates-will automatically install, typically overnight.

Once the prerequisites are installed, you will then be able to proceed with updating to SP1 via Windows Update. David told me that Microsoft also intends to release some of these prerequisite updates ahead of the service pack, as part of normal monthly updates, so you shouldn't see all these when you install the Service Pack.

When SP1 shows up in Windows Update, it does so as an "important update" and gives a size range from 51MB - 679.6MB. For me, the download of the service pack through Windows Update occurred relatively fast so I assume the size of SP1 is more on the lower end rather than the high. While SP1 is installing, I was able to continue working without any issue. Once SP1 finishes installing, Windows Update alerted me it must restart to finish the installation, allowing me to finish up my work to restart my PC.

On my Desktop PC, I decided to give the standalone installer for SP1 a try. The standalone installer is the version of SP1 offered as a single downloadable file in x86 and x64 flavors. Since I am running at 64-bit on my desktop PC, I chose the x64 standalone installer for SP1.The standalone installer is mainly used by IT administrators in a corporate network environment to roll out via SMS or other 3rd party management tools. In the case of Windows Vista SP1, the size of the standalone installer is noticeably larger than previous Service Packs in part due to the fact it accommodates for the 36 basic languages supported Windows Vista and all Windows Vista SKUs. This should make it easier for IT administrators to roll SP1 out to PCs running different languages on different SKU's on their network. 1 file does it all. My experience installing SP1 with the standalone installer versus installing SP1 through Windows Update was pretty much the same, except the standalone installer also took care of installing the prerequisite packages for me.

With Windows Vista SP1, there have been several improvements to my user experience I think are worth sharing. The first thing I noticed after installing SP1 was the logon experience when logging into Windows Vista. In entering my password, and logging into my account, I noticed improvements to responsiveness that weren't there before. On my desktop PC (which is joined to a domain) the improvements to the logon experience are even more noticeable. The delay between pressing CTRL-ALT-DELETE and getting the password prompt is pretty much gone.

After logging in to my PC - visually I saw no changes to the desktop shell. However, I did take notice to some minor tweaks to the UI in a few areas after some digging around. For example, the Search option has been removed from the Start menu. More on this later...

There is also a new option in Windows Vista's Disk Defragmenter allowing you to choose which volumes you would like to defragment. On my desktop PC, I have two drives. With the changes noted here - I was able to choose specifically to defragment my second harddrive. This worked great.

And in the BitLocker Control Panel - users of Windows Vista Enterprise and Ultimate are now able to choose which drives to encrypt. Previously, the user was able to only choose the drive that contains Windows Vista (the boot partition).

Outside these minor tweaks to specific areas of UI - I didn't see much new in the way of UI in SP1.

I've also taken notice to improvements in overall responsiveness of my PCs. Improvements were also noticeable in resuming from Hibernation or Sleep on both my desktop PC and laptop running SP1. I discovered copying files from one directory to another is a bit faster. And on my laptop - battery life seems to be improved since running SP1. I have also noticed that transferring files to my shares on my Windows Home Server are a bit faster than they were previously without SP1. Overall performance in accessing my mapped network shares is improved as well. I store quite a bit of data on my Windows Home Server so this was a huge plus for me. These are just some of the performance improvements I've seen running SP1 so far.

Back in June, I wrote about my experience running a dual-monitor setup with Windows Vista. Several readers commented on issues about connecting an external monitor up to a laptop running Windows Vista. SP1 includes improved reliability in connecting an external monitor to a laptop. Users can expect a better experience connecting an external monitor to their laptops as I've had a much better experience myself.

My wireless network experience is improved on my laptop. Prior to SP1, I had been experiencing issues in losing connectivity on my wireless home network and having to repair the connection (especially after resuming from Sleep or Hibernation). Since SP1, I've not had to repair my connection once.

After upgrading to SP1 on my two PCs, I've had no issues with any of my applications. On my HP tx1000, the VeriSoft Fingerprint software and HP Pavilion Webcam both continue to work great. Certified for Windows Vista apps Trend Micro AntiVirus 2007 and CorelDraw X3 also continue to work great as well. All of the new Windows Live betas released a few weeks ago (including the new Windows Live installer) work as advertised. Even the Windows Home Server Connector Console continues to work great.

Microsoft has recently published a KB article outlining changes to Windows Vista's desktop search in SP1 but I'd like to elaborate a little bit based on my own experience with the changes. Windows Vista SP1 allows the user to change their default desktop search provider from the built-in Windows Desktop Search that ships with Windows Vista to another 3rd party desktop search provider. As noted above, the Search option has been removed from the right side of the Start menu. Users will also notice "See all results" has disappeared when doing a search via the Start menu. Instead, you will see "Search Everywhere". Search Everywhere will launch whatever is the user's default desktop search program. In Windows Explorer, users will also see a "Search Everywhere" option in the toolbar as well.

These are just some personal notes on experiences I've had so far. Moving forward with SP1, expect to hear more on my experiences in the coming months. Microsoft is continuing to improve the user experience with Windows Vista both by SP1 and updates from Windows Update. Several months ago I wrote about how much I love Windows Update. Windows Update continues to offer updates to the user experience. Microsoft continues to pump device driver updates out to users through Windows Update as well. For me, it is exciting to see Microsoft continuing to utilize the potential Windows Update has in improving the Windows Vista user experience and SP1 is just one part in that plan.