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Windows Vista SP2 Features and Fixes Unveiled, Beta Announced

The complete list of features:

Emerging Hardware Support

•SP2 contains Blue tooth 2.1 feature pack supporting the most recent specification for Blue tooth technology
•Ability to record data on Blu-Ray media,
•Adds Windows Connect Now (WCN) Wi-Fi Configuration to Windows Vista SP2,
•exFAT file system now supports UTC timestamps, which enables correct file synchronization across time zones.
•SP2 provides support for new form factors, such as ICCD/CCID. new form factor support –example USB form factor as opposed to PCMCIA).
•Support for the new VIA 64-bit CPU
Security

•SP2 includes all previously released security updates, and builds on the proven security benefits of Windows Vista
•Secure Development Lifecycle process updates, where we identify the root cause of each security bulletin and improve our internal tools to eliminate code patterns that could lead to future vulnerabilities
•Reliability
•SP2 addresses previously released reliability updates, as well as addressing crashes, caused by Microsoft code, discovered since the launch of SP1
Performance

•Resume performance when Wi-Fi connection is no longer available after resume from sleep
•Inclusion of Windows Search 4 for improved indexing performance, improved relevancy in search, broader indexing scenario inclusion, as well as new Group Policy integration for Windows Search,
•Improvements to the RSS feeds sidebar gadget to improve update performance and responsiveness
Application Compatibility

•It is our goal that applications that run on the Windows Vista Operating System today and are written using public APIs will continue to work as designed on Windows Vista SP2.
•Previously released Application Compatibility updates are included in Windows Vista SP2.
•Spysweeper and ZoneAlarm now working with POP3 email accounts
Administration and Support Improvements

•Customers installing .net framework 3.5 service pack 1 will notice shorter download and installation times with Vista service pack 2 or Windows 2008 service pack 2 already installed,
•Service Pack Clean up tool (Compcln.exe): This tool helps restore the hard disk space by permanently deleting the previous versions of the files (RTM & SP1) that are being serviced by Service Pack 2.
•Single installer for both Vista & Server 2008
•Ability to detect an incompatible driver and block service pack installation or warn users of any loss of functionality
•Better error handling and providing more descriptive error messages where possible
•Better manageability through logging in system event log
•Componentization for Serviceability of the installer
Some Specific Fixes/Additions Include:

•Inclusion of Hyper-V
•Event logging support in SPC
•DNS Server now listens over ISATAP address
•Fixes DRM issues from WMP upgrades
•Windows Vista Feature Pack for Wireless
•Reduction of resources required for sidebar gadgets
•Improved power settings for WS08
Lord Anubis - contributor
Published: 387 days 19 hours ago | News | PC | Tech
 
 

Showing: 1 - 14 of 14 Comments
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TheIneffableBob - 387 days 19 hours ago
1 -
Looks to be a good update. I'm most looking forward to performance and stability improvements, though Windows Search 4 looks good. I've found myself using Search a lot since I got Vista. It makes finding music fast and easy.
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elorm9 - 387 days 18 hours ago
1.1 - 'Bout time
Hopefully they fixed more than just this
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M337ING - 387 days 18 hours ago
1.2 -
Windows Search 4 is already available, just search for it on MS site.
2 Craig David | 387 days 18 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show
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gw4k - 387 days 18 hours ago
2.1 - No No No
You need XP in your life...if you are a gamer that is.

If you can, Vista is not for you!
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TheIneffableBob - 387 days 16 hours ago
2.2 -
Been gaming on Vista for several months and I've had no problems. Games run almost as good, if not as good, as XP. Vista did have problems pre-SP1, but now it's pretty good. The overall user experience is definitely better than XP and I'm happy with my gaming performance. The only game I've noticed that is noticeably slower in Vista is Team Fortress 2, which is really unfortunate since I play a ton of that.
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baum - 387 days 16 hours ago
3 - I've had Vista for 4 months
And I'm having problems already. I think I'm gonna switch to Ubuntu relatively soon, after all I rarely use my PC for gaming if at all. I have consoles for that. I'll simply switch to Windows whenever I wanna game.
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jkashuba07 - 387 days 13 hours ago
4 - @ 2.1
What are you talking about, gamers already know that you need recommended hardware for Vista, and most have way better than that to get the best of their games, if this is so, I guarantee you Vista will run just fine! Not to mention that most games that coming out now are vista exclusive. So I don't know what your talkin bout. I actually prefer Vista over XP, I think it runs better! That's because I'm not one of idiots complaining about how it doesn't work on my PC that can barely run XP. Vista works just dandy on machines that can run it!
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bumnut - 387 days 11 hours ago
4.1 -
most games coming out now are vista exclusive?

i don't agree
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Fanboi - 387 days 13 hours ago
5 - XP sucks until SP 2
People seem to forget that it wasn't until SP 2 that XP became the OS that we all know and love. I'm sure this second update will do the same to Vista.
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ApocalyPS3 - 387 days 9 hours ago
6 -
It's been a long and rough ride. Vista was the price MS paid for thinking that a new UI needs to hog resources.

Guess what? It's the same reason why several PC programs that you used to be able to install before on that old 10GB hard drive now in their latest versions take up so much god damn space! Multimedia, flashy skins, button sounds, preloaded content and whatnot.

But then again, how else are you going to put 8 cores and 16GB of memory to use? With the ever expanding landscape of PC hardware comes the push for more flash and style. And honestly, I'm all for it. Just as long as they keep stability and reliability as a top concern.

Need to fix rundll32 crashes when running 174.32 nvidia drivers on my 8600m GS, it does that whenever my screen locks up with those security dialogs. And HP doesn't offer any newer drivers, and INF modded drivers lose my laptop specific functions.
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ScorponokG1 - 387 days 8 hours ago
7 -
screw vista will wait for windows 7..
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zonetrooper5 - 387 days 5 hours ago
8 -
As long as they keep on improving Vista then I'm happy although Vista 64bit with SP1 is pretty damn good.
9 Bladestar | 387 days 4 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show
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