The first service pack for Microsoft Windows Vista operating system won’t arrive until early next year, but judging from many experience with a beta of SP1, the update will be more about stability and security fixes than noticeable performance gains.

What is Improved
Many alterations in this service pack, the tested version of 0.275 won’t be obvious to a casual user. You probably won’t notice any interface changes, for example.

Instead, Microsoft says, the service pack beta improves stability, performance, and reliability when reactivating a machine from Hibernate or Suspend mode; enhances device-driver support; increases security; and adds support for new standards such as Extended File Allocation Table (intended to enhance flash storage on notebooks, not desktops).

According to Microsoft, typical load times for the final version should range from 30 to 60 minutes. The installation requires 7GB of free hard-drive space (some of which will be reclaimed after the installation is complete), though the finalized install file itself is expected to be a 50MB download via Windows Update.

In early tests with the beta, some small improvements in boot time on an HP Compaq 8710p Core 2 Duo notebook. Before SP1, the laptop took 1 minute, 51 seconds to boot. After the update, that figure dropped by almost 20 seconds.

Microsoft is also touting improvements in the speed of copying and extracting files, so that also tested a few of those scenarios. Noted that a slight increase in the time required to copy 562 JPEG images totalling 1.9GB from an SD Card to the hard drive of the a fore mentioned HP Compaq notebook.

In another test, Nero 7 Ultra on an Acer Aspire 5630 Core 2 Duo laptop were tested to add files to a disk image. After SP1 installed, the notebook built the disk image about 7 percent faster.

When Beta 2 of Vista was released in May 2006, many blog listed these favorite Vista features:
Windows Flip, Meeting Space, SideShow, and performance enhancers SuperFetch, ReadyBoost, and ReadyDrive. After a few months of reviewing with Beta 2, though, here the list of Tops 5 compiled by Computer Shopper.

1. EXPLORER BREADCRUMBS
Vista offers lots of features with a high geewhiz factor that catch your eye at first, such as the live file previews in the new Explorer or if you can run Aero, the live thumbnails of currently running apps on the Taskbar. But we have found Vista’s breadcrumb navigation to be much more useful, it lets me click quickly through subdirectory hierarchies to find what I need.

2. SEARCH ON THE START MENU
In retrospect, this should have been on my original list. I love being able to click on the Start menu and easily find files and launch applications. I can go to the search field and type something like C:/Users/Janice/Pictures or www.application-install-guide.com and go right there without launching Explorer or Internet Explorer. The feature works wonders for finding functions that otherwise take lots of clicking to uncover. Typing in Device Manager drops you right where you want to be rather than having to navigate to the Control Panel and look for the Device Manager icon.

3. SLEEP MODE
While SuperFetch and ReadyBoost are still pretty cool, my favorite performance improvement is much less glamorous. I’ve long envied Macs and their time-saving instant on/off ability, and with Vista, Windows has finally caught up. By combining XP’s Standby and Hibernate modes into a single, instant-off state, you can power up or down in just seconds.

4. MEETING SPACE
It was on my original list, and I still love this collaboration tool, which lets you create an ad hoc wireless connection with nearby Vista users even without a Wi-Fi network. You can share programs and jointly edit documents with up to 10 other users although Vista Home Basic users only get to view documents. In Beta 2, it is still called Windows Collaboration, but Microsoft plans to rename the tool Meeting Space for launch.

5. GUIDED HELP
Call me lazy, but I love Vista interactive Guided Help tool. Just over 30 help topics in Vista include the tool, which provides a step-by-step description of how to accomplish a task or lets you opt to have the task completed for you automatically. Click Show me step-by-step or Do it automatically, with the latter letting you observe all the steps by following a green arrow that floats across the screen, pointing and clicking the appropriate options. Each topic even recommends whether to use the automated process, or the step-by-step option.

Microsoft will have six versions of Vista available at launch and two categories of hardware requirements (Windows Vista Capable and Vista Premium Ready) for running different levels of the OS. All versions of Vista will operate and provide basic functionality on a Windows Vista Capable machine, but for all versions except Vista Home Basic and Vista Starter, you’ll want to go with a Vista Premium Ready configuration, at a minimum, to get access to all features. For the best experience, though, standard recommend doubling the minimum requirements listed.

Windows Vista Ultimate
For advanced consumers or business users; the highest-end edition, combining the best features of all editions.

Minimum Requirements:
Windows Vista Premium Ready Logo
1GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
1GB RAM
DirectX 9-capable graphics with 128MB of graphics memory & support for Windows Display Driver Model
Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware and 32-bit-per-pixel color
40GB hard drive (with 15GB free)
DVD-ROM drive

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