Comments

1. bham4ever

   
   Posted on: April 22, 2008 at 12:09PM  

   Is there any reason why I should uninstall the last SP1 BETA and reinstall SP1 if my beta SP1 is working great?

   Just wondered if there was anything added or fixed in the final release.
2. Brandon LeBlanc

   

   
   Posted on: April 22, 2008 at 5:14PM  

   bham4ever, the RTM version has quite a bit of improvements in stability and performance over Beta versions. And Microsoft is no longer supporting Beta versions of SP1. I'd recommend going to the RTM version.
3. Brandon LeBlanc

   

   
   Posted on: April 22, 2008 at 5:17PM  

   FYI to all,

   Today you should start seeing the Language Packs appear again in Windows Update for those running Windows Vista Ultimate SP1. The Language Packs for Windows Vista SP1 have been released:

   http://www.ultimatepc.com/#extras/products/ext_languagepack

   And Windows Vista Ultimate users will be pleased to know we've released new Ultimate Extras today. Check Windows Update! You'll find new Sound Schemes available as well as DreamScene Content Pack #3.

   http://www.ultimatepc.com/#extras/products/ext_soundschemes

   http://www.ultimatepc.com/#extras/products/ext_dreamscenes

   - Brandon
4. silversj

   
   Posted on: April 22, 2008 at 5:24PM  

   The language packs seem to be posted today.
5. Brandon LeBlanc

   

   
   Posted on: April 22, 2008 at 5:26PM  

   silversj, yup they have. See my comments above yours! :-)

   - Brandon
6. ywwong

   
   Posted on: April 22, 2008 at 8:30PM  

   It's great to see the language packs!  Thanks for all your hard work!!
7. hitmouse

   
   Posted on: April 23, 2008 at 1:06AM  

   I did a clean install of Vista Ultimate SP1 on my Acer Tablet PC. After setup, it decided that it suddenly couldn't find drivers for the (integrated) keyboard that had worked all through setup. I could only work with the pen, and couldn't even use a USB keyboard. I had to completely reinstall.

   After this reinstall with keyboard driver mysteriously located, everything kinda worked except Windows Update failed only with Dreamscene. Then I couldn't install Live Messenger due to .NET assembly errors. BTW both error messages had to be copied out laboriously since you can't copy errors out of Windows Update except as a screenshot (I bugged this during the Vista beta - apparently not repro in the strange universe of the beta triage team) and Windows Live error text only shows up as a f**** tooltip wrapped over 4 lines!! Way to go with usability folks.

   So I opened 2 PSS requests about these issues. Fixing the Live installer error requires fixing Windows Update. After 3 weeks of to-and-fro with PSS about Windows Update, they got my system to the point where a) NO Windows Update works except for Defender updates; b) my Windows Update history is lost; and c) all my restore points are gone. Just a few minutes ago PSS 2nd tier support thought my ISP must be to blame (WTF??? no other Vista machines on the same network are affected) and recommended I either try a THIRD clean install or return my copy of Ultimate.

   Having once worked as a PM in Windows Division, I am mighty pissed off.
8. littletom

   
   Posted on: April 23, 2008 at 1:25AM  

   Hi Guys,

   Here are some reasons not to DOWNGRADE from XP to Vista:

   Firstly, I had installed a portable sound device (card) driver and every time I turned on the device it asked me to install the driver. Tho Microsoft did provide with some solutions with the driver's incompatibility, it just didn't work for me at all and it is reported that Vista has many compatibility issues.

   Secondly, after installing Linux on my working computer I found X.org (a.k.a. X Window System) can do whatever 3D effects you can think of including Aero, iPod album effect, box rotation with 4 work places, and window shaking like a pudding while dragging very smoothly without a superfluous expensive graphics card support. (to see what X.org can do just search "compiz fusion" on youtube.com you will find tons of comparisons between Vista and compiz fusion)

   Thirdly, it takes 15 giga bytes to install and it takes C: as temporary storage (not swap just temporary storage) all the time, so I get a caution on running out of C: disk space. As a consequence, I have to frequently, almost constantly, clean up my drive C:.

   Fourthly, it requires a lot of memory, as for me, I gave it 2 gigabytes of RAM but it would jump out a message box stating that I'm running out of memory so that it is trying to close IE to free some memory, for god's sake I didn't open an IE browser. And as the gauge told me I've just used up to 60% of RAM.

   Fifthly, it requires 6GB of my C:, where I only have 20 GB totally and could only yield 4.4 GB with compression, disk space to install the SP1. Althoug I'm a PC end user I want to enjoy the performance improvement claimed by the M$ even though M$ is running out of credit.

   Sixthly, its file system runs ultra slow compared with XP. I don't know why it just runs the progress bar as if it were searching for a file and I never input the search string into the search box. And as a journaling file system it's fail recover time is tooooooooo long compared with the Linux's ext3 whose recovery is almost unsensible.

   Seventhly, the terrible BCD system. Once it failed you have no way to recover it. Even with bootrec /ScanOS it can't be found or with bootrect /NT60 ALL can not recover this error. Guess only reinstall it can rebuild the BCD.

   And it is truly a lie to save the cost with Vista. Because it requires much more memory and disk space than ever and a more powerful CPU and an expensive video card to run just the home basic.

   So for those who haven't installed the lousy and costly Vista. Please don't do it for your own sake or you will regret.
9. Bob-C

   
   Posted on: April 23, 2008 at 6:56PM  

   Brandon,

   You missed my question from earlier in thread...

   What happened to recdisc.exe?  I used it on pre-release versions of SP1 and it worked pretty well.  Now I have the final SP1 loaded and the shortcut has been removed from the Maintenance menu.  The program is still there in C:\windows\system32\recdisc.exe but if you double click on it, nothing happens.

   Thank you in advance,

   Bob
10. Brandon LeBlanc

    

    
    Posted on: April 23, 2008 at 7:55PM  

    Hi Bob, sorry for not answering before and thank you for asking again. The Recovery Disc feature seen in the beta builds of Windows Vista SP1 was removed during the Release Candidate stage and was cut from the final release. I'm not sure as to exact details on why. Not sure why recdisc.exe is still there in the final version of SP1 but it shouldn't work.

    I'll see if I can find out more details.

    Thanks,

    Brandon