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Right on cue, Microsoft has made available the (long-awaited) Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista to a private group of beta testers.

The update is noted for a number of positive changes, some of which include a much snappier logon experience, a new option in the Disk Defragmenter “allowing you to choose which volumes you would like to defragment,” improvements in responsiveness when resuming from Hibernation / Sleep modes, enhanced BitLocker function(Enterprise and Ultimate version only), better wireless network and dual monitor support.

Click for more on Vista SP1 Beta release available today »

Make the gadget work in non-English Vista systems and “remember” user settings.

One of the new features in Windows Vista is the Sidebar and Gadgets, which provide a handy and speedy way to retrieve various information without additional efforts. The integrated weather gadget, does look great when it works, however, might become less appealing, even unusable by some [serious] bugs.

Click for more on HowTo: Fix The Built-in Weather Gadget in Vista »

Windows Vista by default employs User Account Control (UAC) for better security, but it also brings some obstacle when you try to modify(replace or delete) a system file. This can be achieved by taking ownership of the file and then grant yourself full control over the file.

Without turning off UAC, we need to get an elevated command prompt first:

Click for more on HowTo: Modify Protected System Files in Vista »

It works better for older system with less than 512MB ram than the newer ones.

PC Stats has an interesting six page review regarding Microsoft Windows Vista’s ReadyBoost feature. ReadyBoost is supposed to allow the user to plug in a fast USB stick into their system to speed up work the OS needs to do and effectively improve the computer’s performance by storing non-essential information on the drive. The review concludes that this is not the case with current USB keys on the market. Although ReadyBoost does improve overall performance on the system, it is not enough to make a significant difference or to raise some eyebrows. It seems that on older computers with little memory (512MB), ReadyBoost can help out much more than on newer systems - probably the systems Vista would be installed on anyways. Surprisingly enough, however, ReadyBoost did make a slight mark even on video game performance and system startup time.

Click for more on Windows Vista & ReadyBoost: Does it Make a Difference? »

“With the discovery last week of the connection between Vista’s poor networking performance and audio activities, word quickly spread around the Net. No doubt this got Microsoft’s attention, and they have responded to the issue.

Click for more on Microsoft responds to Vista network performance issue »

Though much argued, I still prefer to adopt UAC in Windows Vista, so to launch an app in administrator mode, I have to right click and select “Run as administrator”.  Being a command line fan, it would be convenient to have it done through some keystrokes.

I searched and found some tool, works fine, but its a bit bulky and comes with lots of (unnecessary) features. To keep things simple, I decide to write one myself. And its done with a size of 6K.

Click for more on Sudo for Windows Vista »

So over the passing months, the UAC prompt has gone from nice idea (as it was advised) to “not the best solution” to something that admins may actually have to find a way to work around.

The latest version of a well-reviewed third-party security policy enhancement system for Windows Vista claims to solve what its manufacturer characterizes as “not a secure solution” to a critical problem Windows historically had with administrator privileges on programs. But in the announcement of the upgrade earlier this week, a key Microsoft product manager is quoted as having acknowledged Vista’s own take on the solution was not quite enough, effectively reversing his company’s stand on User Account Control.

Click for more on Microsoft Endorses Product That Turns Off Vista UAC Nags »

Users report that the network performance drops to 1/10 of original while music is playing,regardless the player.

“Over the months since Vista’s release, there has been no doubt about the reduced level of network performance experienced compared to Windows XP. However, some users over at the 2CPU forums have discovered an unexplained connection with audio playback resulting in a cap at approximately 5%-10% of total network throughput. Whenever any audio is being sent to a sound card (even, several users report, while paused), network performance is instantly reduced. As soon as the audio is stopped, the throughput begins to climb to its expected speed. And changing music player wouldn’t do any help.

It’s a tough one for users — what do you pick, sound or speed? So much for multi-tasking.

Source: slashdot

The Chinese hacker made it again: SLIC enabled bioses for almost all Thinkpad with PM processor or higher, include but don’t limit to X31, X32, X40, X41, R40, T40, T41, T42(p), T43(p), R50, T60(p), X60(s) and the list is still increasing, just almost all the Thinkpad models made in the last 3 years.

The SLIC(Software Licensing Description Table) table in BIOS is used by OEM versions of Windows Vista for activation by Royalty OEMs in order for the end-user to not have problems with activating, called SLP 2.0, or System-Locked Preinstallation 2.0. For activation to work, clients obtained through the OEM channels that have an ACPI_SLIC table in the system BIOS are required to have a valid Windows marker in the same ACPI_SLIC table. The appearance of the Windows marker is important for volume license customers who are planning to use Windows Vista volume-licensed media to re-image or upgrade OEM through the re-imaging rights provided in their volume license agreement. Not having the appropriate BIOS marker results in the following error or errors on these systems and prevents them from activating. However, a modified BIOS with proper SLIC table can let the client PC by-pass the Vista activation process.

Click for more on Vista SLIC Ready Bios for Old Thinkpad »

The ICS is buggy in Vista and might lead to random connection drops.

When ICS service is Enabled, after a few hours (no specified time frame, might happen anytime) the connections on Vista PC running ICS would down and no more new connection can be made, while the client PC is still working.

Click for more on Fix the ICS Bug Under Vista »