Its here, have you installed your Service Pack 2? I rebooted this morning after last Friday night's WSUS update push.
The SP2 has just been released for Windows Vista, Microsoft's main line of operating system. This service pack has been defined by the Microsoft as:
"A service pack is a Windows update that combines new security and performance updates with previously released updates. Installing a service pack helps make sure you've got all the updates your PC needs to help make it more reliable, run more smoothly, and even more enjoyable to use. Think of it as a free all-in-one tune up for your PC."
So what is included on this Service Pack?
Hardware ecosystem support and enhancements
- SP2 adds support for the 64-bit central processing unit (CPU) from VIA Technologies, which adds the ID and vendor strings for the new VIA 64-bit CPU.
- SP2 integrates the Windows Vista Feature Pack for Wireless, which contains support for Bluetooth v2.1 and Windows Connect Now (WCN) Wi-Fi Configuration. Bluetooth v2.1 is the most recent specification for Bluetooth wireless technology.
- SP2 improves performance for Wi-Fi connections after resuming from sleep mode.
- SP2 includes updates to the RSS feeds sidebar for improved performance and responsiveness.
- SP2 includes ability to record data to Blu-Ray Disc media.
Operating system experience updates
- SP2 includes Windows Search 4.0, which builds on Microsoft’s search technology with improved indexing and search relevance. It also helps find and preview documents, e-mail (including signed e-mail messages), music files, photos, and other items on the computer. The search engine in Windows Search 4.0 is a Microsoft Windows® service that is also used by programs such as Microsoft Office Outlook® 2007 and Microsoft Office OneNote® 2007. Autotuning Diagnostics in SP2 now interprets current network conditions when implementing Windows scaling. This feature includes full netsh support.
- SP2 improves Windows Media Center (WMC) in the area of content protection for TV.
- SP2 removes the limit of 10 half open outbound TCP connections. By default, SP2 has no limit on the number of half open outbound TCP connections.
SP2 also includes a Service Pack Clean-up tool (Compcln.exe) which helps recover the hard disk space by permanently deleting previous versions of files (RTM and SP1) that are being serviced by SP2. The Service Pack Clean up tool can also be run offline while creating slipstream images to reduce the size of the image.
Checkout Windows Vista SP2 at TechNet: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd335036(WS.10).aspx