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New Software Vista

Hands-on: first impression on Vista SP1 Beta

Sep 26, 2007   3 am
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windowsvistalogo The much anticipated reliability and enhancement SP1 update for Vista reviewed.

As you might have known, the leaked beta of Vista SP1 is floating around now, and I get a chance to test it and would like to share my own experience.


The leaked package is a standalone installer which supports all language versions of Windows Vista, sized 1.27GB for x86 and 1.74GB for x64 respectively. The testbed is a desktop bought last year with Core 2 Duo E6300 OCed to 3.0G, 2GB RAM and 500GB SATA drive.

Before installation, make sure the system partition has at least 6GB left. The update itself needs around 2.5GB and temp file will use another 3.2GB. And, don’t put the SP1 file on system partition unless there is >10GB  free space.

The installation interface appeared 2 minutes later after I clicked the file, this might due to my anti-virus program which scanned the file before really launched. After extracting, the installation started.

Snap1(Automatically restart…and then to start the installation) 

The whole process went fine, after about 18′40″(yes, I measured with a stopwatch), the computer restarted for the first time. After reboot, installation continued and another restart in 40″. 3rd one took around 10′30″ and 7′20″ for the 4th. Finally, after around 40 minutes, I’m in with the new SP1.

The first thing to do was to free up the disk space. Typing

%temp%

in the “Run…” box, and quickly located the temp files as the folder names started with “SP1″.

 
diskusage
Deleting is a lot faster now, only 3 minutes to delete all these files(does this suppose to be done in seconds?)
deleting
 
The disk usage is ~2.5GB after deleting the temporary files. You might shrink it further without system restore(not recommended).
 
  restore-point

You wouldn’t notice that you’re running SP1 if there is not the [annoying] version number on the right corner.

nag

The Windows version is now Service Pack 1, v.275.

 version 

Some changes have been covered earlier, include the new start menu(no more Search option), enhanced disk defragmenter options and a [finally usable] BitLocker.
 
But there are more…
 
Now you can pause during indexing
index-option
Create a restore disc if you don’t have the installation media, this is accessible by clicking “Start Menu->Maintenance->Create a Recovery Disc”.
recovery-disc
Format a flash drive to exFAT. The new file system supports upto 16 Exabytes instead 4 Gigabytes by current FAT32, and even capable of ACL!
exfat
The rest is quite objective and YMMV. Most of my experience is positive. The booting seems a little faster, but this might be my illusion. IE7 bumps to version 7.0.6001.16659 and runs ALOT smoother when switching tabs. The DirectX, still 10.0, as opposed to the highly anticipated 10.1. I run a quick test of 3DMark2006(w/7900GT) and get 150 points increased. Another thing worth noting is, the connecting speed for wireless is much much faster now, around 2-3 seconds to connect a AP instead of 8-10 previously.
 
I also tested some big guys I can find, include Visual Studio 2005, Adobe CS3, Office 2007 and Vmware, all run smoothly. Well, I do expect a performance boost but for a beta release, it works(and manages to break nothing), what can I ask for more?
 
If you have modified some system files, the SP1 upgrade might reverse them. My patched uxtheme.dll, for example, has been restored and I’ve to stick with the official Aero interface for some time.
 
There are also some reports that, Microsoft is taking action on Vista Hacks. The activation hack, released by “Paradox”(aka Vista OEM Activation ToolKit) has stopped working and put the [hacked] system unusable. However, other hacking approaches, include the first released Softmod(and the updated version, Vista Loader) still work in the new SP1.
 
Finally, here is some moans…
  1. There is still no fix for the weather gadget
  2. The photo gallery, still lacks GIF file support, as Microsoft don’t consider GIF as photo?

SP1 manages to win over me and I’ll keep it(till the next release). Anyway, for beta-haters, just remove it as any other updates.

remove

 
 
From: DigitMemo.com
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 26th, 2007 at 3:11 am and is filed under New Software, Vista. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Comments so far »

  1. littlechristy said

    am September 26 2007 @ 6:17 am

    Too Late

    i have moved over to Mac.

    littlechristy

  2. DigitMemo.com » Install Vista SP1 with limited system partition free space said

    am September 26 2007 @ 3:11 pm

    […] pack will require a large amount of free disk space (7 GB for x86 and 12 GB for x64). From my own experience, at least 6GB is required to install SP1 on x86. However, its possible to experience SP1 with less […]

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