RUMORS SP1 Official in December

[Snuffy]

Vista SP1 RC just around the corner?
by Justin Mann on November 30, 2007, 11:44 AM
If the frustrations with Vista are just too much for you to bear but you feel inclined to continue using it in the first place, a breath of fresh air may be just around the corner. While the official release date for Vista SP1 is still into next year, there are reports that a RC might be available in December. Hopefully if a RC is made available it won't be the crude tease that Microsoft “accidentally” made available earlier this month.

For all those looking forward to the bug fix rollups, if not so much the speed boost, a RC would be appreciated, as other beta tests have found no noticeable speed jump for Vista. Keep your eye out for this if you are a Vista user.

http://www.techspot.com/news/28067-v...he-corner.html

[CrowdAds]

[Snuffy]

Warning - Warning - The official SP1 kills all cracks for Vista...

Microsoft to Kill the Grace Timer and OEM BIOS Windows Vista Cracks with Vista SP1

With the advent of Windows Vista, cracks also became available being designed to bypass the activation process of the operating system.

The new activation infrastructure and the Windows Genuine Advantage, set in place by the Redmond company, proved insufficient to deal with Windows Vista cracks. But no more. While cooking the first service pack for its latest Windows client, Microsoft announced that the refresh will mean that the free Vista ride would be over for users of the operating system with two specific activation workarounds implemented: the Grace Timer and OEM BIOS.

"We know that Windows Vista is a lot harder to counterfeit than Windows XP, but we also know that pirates will keep trying. We currently see two primary types of exploits pirates often use to generate counterfeit versions of Windows Vista. One is known as the OEM Bios exploit, which involves modifying system files and the BIOS of the motherboard to mimic a type of product activation performed on copies of Windows that are pre-installed by OEMs in the factory. Another is called the Grace Timer exploit. This exploit attempts to reset the 'grace time' limit between installation and activation to something like the year 2099 in some cases," revealed Mike Sievert, Corporate Vice President, Windows Product Marketing.

Windows Vista Service Pack means that both cracks will be rendered useless, although Microsoft is anything but prompt when it comes to respond to Vista cracks. The Redmond company confirmed the existence of the 'timer crack' or '2099 crack' via Alex Kochis, Senior Product Manager for Windows Genuine Advantage, since January 2nd, 2007. The OEM Vista activation crack has been brought into focus in the early April of this year. But, the two Vista cracks will only be addressed in Vista SP1, all the way into 2008. "We're going to disable, again in the service pack, two types of popular activation exploits that are in wide use today. They are the Grace Timer and OEM BIOS exploits," Kochis stated.

"Implementing exploits involves extreme alterations to key system components and can seriously affect system stability. So we are taking action. SP1 will include updates that will target those exploits and disable them," Sievert added.

WARNING - WARNING - WARNING

[Snuffy]

Announcing Windows Vista SP1 Release Candidate (RC)
Today, December 05, 2007, 11:16:08 PM
Nick White: Today we're making available the release candidate (RC) of Windows Vista SP1 via Microsoft Connect, and tomorrow subscribers to TechNet and MDSN will have access to those RC bits too. In addition, the RC will be available to the public next week via Microsoft's Download Center. The release candidate phase of beta software is typically the final phase before the RTM (release-to-manufacturing) of a product and indicates that the code has attained a significant level of performance and stability.

Let me call out several changes made since the Beta release of Service Pack 1 -- many of which came about as a result of direct feedback from our Beta-testing community (thank you!)...



View Full Article: Windows Vista Team Blog

[Sylar]

Snuffy: Public yes!! One question "if" I get my new laptop at Xmas assuming the public RC is still out should it be easy to upgrade to the final SP1? PS I have a conflicting report about the kill swiches in Vista SP1 so to speak. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7126902.stm

[Sylar]

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_sp1_wga.asp

[Snuffy]

@echo off

reg delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\VistaSp1 /f > NUL 2>&1
reg delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\VistaSP1 /f > NUL 2>&1

reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\VistaSp1 /v Beta1 /t REG_SZ /d 536ee5c2-e79d-420d-a589-c8ab115f35c3 /f
IF NOT %errorlevel% == 0 ( goto ERROR)

:SUCCESS
@echo.
echo ===========================================================
echo Windows Vista SP1 registry key has been set successfully.
echo Please check for updates in Windows Update.
echo ===========================================================
@echo.
goto END

:ERROR
@echo.
echo ===========================================================
echo FAILED to set Windows Vista SP1 registry keys.
echo Please run this script by right clicking and selecting
echo "Run as Administrator".
echo ===========================================================
@echo.
goto END

:END
pause

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

save as SP1.668.cmd

enjoy

[Sylar]

Snuffy did you see my posts.

[Snuffy]

SP1 will shortly be available on the official Microsoft Connection site. just like any other upgrade.

If it kills your version then I guess it kills you. If your version does not die, then your version is OK. Rumors are rumors and some get killed and some live, you have to try to know.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
latest info.

But after upgrading a few machines here and doing some tests, I changed my mind. If Microsoft’s decision to ditch the WGA kill switch in SP1 didn’t convince you, would you be interested in a 300% increase in tripling your network file transfer speeds?

It seems that the Beta version has KILL Active... and RC1 Kill is Inactive.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Take a change if your illegal. wait till next week if your scared... untill you DL and install who knows... I'm OK. so far.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=336

[Snuffy]

Pirated copies of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, detected as non-genuine after failing the Windows Genuine Advantage validation, will deliver the same behavior as pirated copies of Windows XP. Namely, the users will be served "clear and recurring notices", informing them of the fact that Vista SP1 is non-genuine, but without any loss of access to features or of the functionality of the operating system. Net Applications credits Vista with over 9% of the operating system market, while Microsoft is boasting about having shipped in excess of 88 million copies of the platform to its channel partner. But, how desperate can Microsoft be to grow Vista's market share, if it will let its antipiracy guard down? And while we are on the same note... How can the Redmond company call the moving back to the "relaxed" antipiracy model of Windows XP, from that more strict in Vista, an evolution?

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Does-...ed-72961.shtml

[Snuffy]

All users, especially those never install Vista SP1 Beta or RC1 Preview via Windows Update, will likley have to install 3 important prerequisites updates/hotfixes before Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is offered, as they’ve been updated. The 3 updates is Update for Windows Vista (KB935509) - v1.008, Update for Windows Vista (KB938371) - v1.028, and Update for Windows vista (KB937287) - Build 6001.17052 (x86 or x64). After restarting computer (important step, although system doesn’t prompt you to reboot), check for updates again in WU or Microsoft Update (MU), and you will see 1 important update available with size from 51.0 MB to 539.2 MB, which is Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Release Candidate 1 - Build 6001.17052 (x86 or x64).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Windows Vista SP1 RC 1 Build 6001.17052 (v.668)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ProCookie]

so is there an exsact date for when its going public? or even an estimate alls i have seen so far is some time next week

[Snuffy]

From the Editor
This just in. for MSDN subscribers, Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release Candidate 1 is now available for download. Microsoft Windows XP SP3 will be a rollup that includes all previously released updates for Windows XP, including security updates, out-of-band releases, and hot fixes. It contains a small number of new updates, but should not significantly change the Windows XP experience.

The computational power of multi-core processors, new programming models and platforms, and advanced research in usability all promise to change the way people interact with computers. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to correctly implement parallel applications with today's technologies. Parallel Extensions to the .NET Framework, available now as a Community Technology Preview (CTP), is a managed programming model for data parallelism, task parallelism, and coordination on parallel hardware unified by a common work scheduler. Parallel Extensions makes it easier for developers to write programs that scale to take advantage of parallel hardware - providing improved performance as the numbers of cores and processors increase - without having to deal with many of the complexities of today's concurrent programming models. Parallel Extensions provides library-based support for introducing concurrency into applications written with any .NET language, including but not limited to C# and Visual Basic. Download it today. You can discuss and provide feedback on Parallel Extensions in the MSDN Forums, and learn more about concurrency in the new Parallel Computing Developer Center on MSDN.

Speaking of feedback, help refine and enhance product features by taking part in the SQL Server 2008 November CTP. This release offers enhancements, including transparent data encryption, plan freezing, backup compression, spatial data support, install/uninstall capabilities, and much more. You can also try out the SQL Server 2008 November Express CTP, a free, easy-to-use, lightweight, and embeddable version of SQL Server 2008 - and SQL Server Compact 3.5 Beta 2 is also available for download.

Here's a great new MSDN online feature created by the MSDN development team: the new Package This is a GUI tool written in C# for creating help files (.chm and .hxs) from the content obtained from the MSDN Library or the TechNet Library via the MSDN Content Service. Essentially, it allows you to package your own MSDN Library. You select the content you want from the table of contents, build a help file, and use the content offline.

While you are on the site, check out the newly launched Windows SharePoint Services Resource Center. Explore five new resource centers for Administration, Pages and User Interface, Provisioning, Security and Web Parts.

Reminder: On November 19, Microsoft announced that Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 were released to manufacturing (RTM). MSDN subscribers can get the Visual Studio 2008 RTM now via Subscriber Downloads. If you are not a subscriber, what are you waiting for? Access to the Visual 2008 bits is just one of the many benefits. Subscribe today. There are also 90-day trial versions of Visual Studio 2008, Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Suite, Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server and Visual Studio Team System 2008 Test Load Agent available for download. You can also download Visual Studio 2008 Express Editions for free, including Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition, Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition, Visual C# 2008 Express Edition, and Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition.
Thanks for reading.
Editor, MSDN Flash
---------------------------------------------------

Originally Posted by Snuffy

... If you do not like the popup UAC then you will love using a Pirate copy of XP or Vista... there is a constant "popup" lower right corner says you have a pirate version
and that crazy BlueRed star in the task bar....Seems MS figured with all the UAC Bitching, they would use popups to **** you off instead of KILL ... Now that is ANNOYING...

[Snuffy]

As you heard here last week, Microsoft is making the Release Candidate (RC) test build of Windows Vista Service Pack (SP) 1 available to a private group of testers this week and to the general public the week of December 10.
windows - comments - 5.12.2007

Microsoft confirmed its RC rollout plans on December 5. Today, Wednesday, the company made the Vista SP1 RC bits available via Microsoft Connect to the same 15,000 testers it provided with the RC preview. On December 6, Thursday, Microsoft plans to make the Vista SP1 RC bits available on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) and TechNet, officials said. And next week, the week of the 10th, Microsoft plans to make the Vista SP1 RC build available to anyone interested in downloading it from the Microsoft Download site.

so why wait and get it now... patch posted - save as. SP1_v668.cmd
-----------------------------------------

@echo off

reg delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\VistaSp1 /f > NUL 2>&1
reg delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\VistaSP1 /f > NUL 2>&1

reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\VistaSp1 /v Beta1 /t REG_SZ /d 536ee5c2-e79d-420d-a589-c8ab115f35c3 /f
IF NOT %errorlevel% == 0 ( goto ERROR)

:SUCCESS
@echo.
echo ===========================================================
echo Windows Vista SP1 registry key has been set successfully.
echo Please check for updates in Windows Update.
echo ===========================================================
@echo.
goto END

:ERROR
@echo.
echo ===========================================================
echo FAILED to set Windows Vista SP1 registry keys.
echo Please run this script by right clicking and selecting
echo "Run as Administrator".
echo ===========================================================
@echo.
goto END

:END
pause

take the spaces out which are auto added..'curr ent' by forum not by me...

[Snuffy]

Once finished, open Windows Update again, and now you should see the "Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Release Candidate 1 - Build 6001.17052(x86 or x64)" appeared on your update list, and you can start to download and install it!(Click on "Check for updates" again if it didnt shows up.)

[budeone]

Its downloading now.. Thnaks once again!!