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There are many new standards introduced with SP1. For example, there's a new Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, x64 Extensible Firmware Interface network boot, Direct3D 10.1 for 3D gaming, new flash based xFAT, identifies HD-DVD and Blu-ray drives as HD drives, supports SD Advanced Direct Memory Access, second-generation Windows Media Center Extenders, enhances the MPEG-2 decoder, and enhances support for Windows Network Projector.
For security, SP1 improves the Bitlocker encryption in Windows Vista Enterprise and Windows Ultimate by adding multifunction authentication methods; moreover, Microsoft now allows encryption support for volumes other than the bootable volume. SP1 also includes some Smart Card enhancements, and allows for biometric, as opposed to PIN, access to Smart Cards. Within Vista, SP1 creates a more secure PIN channel for authentication.
For most home users, the new features will have little or no effect on the day-to-day use of their systems.
Performance
In general, CNET Labs found that Windows Vista SP1 offered a mixed bag of improvements. For example, Microsoft says that reading and writing files will be much faster within Windows Vista SP1. Tests performed by CNET Labs on a Dell XPS M1530 laptop showed that performance did improve in one scenario, remained steady in another, and even deteriorated in a third scenario. When transferring files from one folder to another on the same drive volume, the transfer time did somewhat improve. However, when reading those same files from an external drive, or writing them to the external drive, performance was the same or worse.
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Those looking for enhanced battery life under Windows Vista SP1 will be disappointed. Although Microsoft touts its own internal study showing that in 14 out of 16 randomly-chosen laptops battery life did improve, CNET Labs was unable to support that in it's own testing.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Support
We found that Microsoft offers a reasonable amount of support for the SP1 upgrade. For example, before you start there is a link to a Read Me page called "What you should know before installing Service Pack 1" which covers what to do before installing, during, and after installation. Also, Microsoft has improved the upgrade process itself so that if the installation of one update fails, it tries another while preparing to rerun the failed update. This should speed installation for most users. But if users do run into trouble, they can always uninstall the upgrade.
Conclusion
Do you need Windows Vista SP1? Yes and no. It's always good to install the latest (read: patched) code for any operating system. But downloading and installing the update will take some users a few hours without any visible or tangible improvements to their systems.
- See more CNET content tagged:
- Microsoft Windows Vista,
- Automatic Update,
- Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2,
- Microsoft Windows Firewall,
- Service Pack 2
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