Earlier today I posted instructions on how to download and install Vista SP1 RC, and now that I’ve kicked it around a bit I thought I had enough thoughts to constitute an article. The reason why I didn’t include this information in the earlier post was that my installation had not completed, and in the end it took about 45 minutes to finish installing. A bulk of that time was spent after the computer restarted the first time, so don’t think that your done after the first restart.
–The Good–
Microsoft focused the first Service Pack for Vista purely on performance, stability, and reliability. After running it for just a few hours I’ve noticed that they went for the updates that offered the “biggest bang for the buck.” By that I mean they really hit home on some critical areas where performance wasn’t the greatest, and where users would really notice a big difference.
To be more specific here are some of the things that have really stood out to me in Vista SP1:
- They fixed one of the issues that has irked me the most! Previously when I would start up my laptop Vista would pause for about 15 seconds while it was connecting to the network. During that time no programs or Windows services would load, but things like the Start Menu were still usable. After a lot of research I determined that the delay was caused by Vista looking for other computers on the network, and if I disabled file sharing the problem disappeared. I’m happy to say that there are no startup delays for me in Vista SP1!
- Searching indexed files and folders is way more instant than before. I have Vista index all of the files on my entire computer, and sometimes when performing a search for files it would still take several seconds to bring up any matching results. Now it is able to pull in results almost instantaneously when I begin typing. For the curious minds out there I have 150,000+ files in my index that Vista is searching.
- Big file transfer speed improvements! Transferring files from one machine to another is amazingly faster. Before installing Vista SP1 on my computers I transferred a 500MB file over my local network. It took 3 minutes and 25 seconds to complete, but after installing Vista SP1 on both machines it only took 2 minutes and 22 seconds. That’s a 30% difference!
- Remaining time for file transfers is calculated faster, and seems to be a bit more accurate. When I transferred the 500MB file mentioned in the previous bullet the remaining time was calculated immediately upon initiating the transfer. Sometimes it would take 10 or 15 seconds for it to calculate, so it’s a lot nicer now.
- I have yet to see firsthand the advantages of the hotpatching we discussed yesterday, but the less frequent reboots will surely be a nice touch.
–The Bad–
- One thing that really bugs me with Vista SP1 RC is that Microsoft felt the need to brand my desktop as an “evaluation copy.” Sure I’m not running the final release, and Vista SP1 RC will expire in June 2008, but did they still have to do this? If you’re annoyed by the “Evaluation copy. Build 6001″ message here are some instructions on how to remove it, but I’ll probably just leave it alone.
- There hasn’t really been any improvements to the User Account Control (UAC) in Vista. I guess this is something that would be included in Service Pack 2 since it is more aligned with new features, but some minor tweaks could have made it less frustrating for new users. A “remember my choice” checkbox on each of the prompts would make it 1,000 times better!
- I would have liked to see a few improvements to the Vista Gadgets, such as an autohide option for the sidebar. There should also be an easier one-key shortcut to show/hide the gadgets in the sidebar and on the desktop. The WinKey+Space Bar just doesn’t cut it for me.
So those are my initial impressions of Vista SP1, along with what I was hoping to see included. Vista SP1 should be in final form the early part of next year, and I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that two years won’t go by before we see SP2 (there was a two year gap between SP1 and SP2 for XP).
UAC is one of the first things that I disabled with Vista that and went back to classic view (Windows XP style) for the start menu, now Vista is much better
Does Vista RC1 also undo the emulated BIOS hack? If not, I’ll update.
Wow! The WinKey+Space Bar is my revelation of the day. I might start using this sidebar after all this time!
Sounds like Microsoft are getting closer than ever before to the final release of their new operating system Windows Vista
Sounds like some great improvements! Nice. What happened to that Google desktop search integration thing we heard was imposed on MS? I hope it got thrown out the window!
I actually like the extra protection that UAC provides, and it really does give me more of a sense of security. For the little bit of extra hassle it gives I would still say that it’s worth it. Although it still needs some love and care from Microsoft.
I’m not sure because I don’t have a copy of Vista running with the hack enabled, but I just noticed that the release notes said that it won’t be implemented until the final release.
It’s not a bad shortcut, but pressing it once shows the gadgets and so you would think that pressing it again would hide them. Nope, not so. I find that annoying.
Nope, it’s indeed in there, but I didn’t even care enough about it to see how to change it. Vista’s desktop search is blazingly fast now, and switching to anything else would just seem stupid to me.
Yeah, I’d say that was just a waste of development recourses. Whatever, sounds like they still got plenty of good out.
I don’t really know why, but when I got to the second Windows Update package it didn’t install after restarting. When I tried again Windows (repeatedly) wouldn’t load and I had to dig up the install disk and repair it. I just tried installing it again and it still didn’t work. I guess I’m going to have to wait for the final release.
I just wanted to post a caveat. I had installed an earlier beta version of SP1, but I uninstalled it in order to install this version (RC1). It wreaked havoc on my system.
My computer froze up each time it tried to reboot after installing the Service Pack. I tried every solution I could think of before finally booting into Safe Mode and uninstalling SP1 RC1. This process took nearly an hour, but my computer finally has booted successfully.
I’m definitely waiting for the official SP1 release before I try again.
You could try downloading the standalone installer. It is rather large, but that’s what I used without any troubles.
Sounds like some sort of driver incompatibility, but I’m sure it will be fixed before it gets pushed out the door. The Service Pack team has a few months to fine tune things before the final release. There’s not official word on when it will get released, but I’m thinking February/March 2008.
Since I installed the Vista SP1 my computer has bogged down, froze up and it takes a minute to get on the net. What an flop!
Wow, you really have had a heck of a time with Vista SP1. All of my computers are still purring perfectly, so hopefully whatever the issue is will be resolved by the final release.
Are you running 32 or 64 bit? I am hoping sp1 Fixes the USB MSD flop. I can not use any Thumb drives or readers in 64 mode.
I’m running the 32-bit, so I can’t help you there. Sorry.