Microsoft rolls out patches for Vista

If you aren't in the beta program for Vista SP1, and you might not be missing much if not, word comes out today that Microsoft has released four patches for the regular Vista install.  Each of these patches is designed to address some of the major problems that are addressed in the SP1 beta so it's good news all around.  Some of the issues addressed by these four patches:

• It extends the battery life for mobile devices.
• It improves the stability of wireless network services.
• It shortens the startup time of Windows Vista by using a better timing structure.
• It shortens the recovery time after Windows Vista experiences a period of inactivity.
• A compatibility issue that affects some third-party antivirus software applications.
• A reliability issue that occurs when a Windows Vista-based computer uses certain network driver configurations.
• Stop errors occur on a Windows-based computer that has 2GB or more of RAM and is using an NVIDIA nForce USB controller
• You may experience problems after you resume a Windows Vista-based computer from sleep or from hibernation
• Error message when you try to put a Windows Vista-based computer to sleep or into hibernation: “STOP 0×000000FE BUGCODE_USB_DRIVER”
• Error message in the Usbhub.sys process when you wake a Windows Vista-based computer from sleep or from hibernation: “STOP 0×00000044″
• A USB device may no longer work correctly after Windows Vista resumes from sleep or from hibernation
• The Safely Remove Hardware feature and the Windows Explorer “Eject” command do not work correctly with an Apple iPod that is connected to a Windows Vista-based computer
• The computer takes a long time to resume from a suspend state or from a hibernation state.

This is great news for Vista users, especially using mobile devices and I will be applying these as soon as my new 2710p gets to an appropriate point today.

Microsoft web links for the patches:
Patch 1
Patch 2
Patch 3
Patch 4

(via istartedsomething)

Comments

[John in Norway]

Doesn't say anything with my biggest gripe of Vista, even with the previous patches installed, namely - dog slow file copying.

This morning I wanted to copy a 217MB video to another partition:
Time to calculate - 1m 50s
Time to copy - 45s

[Ayrkain]

Is the third link dead?

[Feralboy]

Third link doesn't work for me, either. Looks like it may have been removed.

[Scott_H]

I'll give them a whirl. I hope one of these fixes my BSOD on shutdown problem.

Btw, does anyone else feel kind of like they're playing Russian Roulette when you install updates, or is it just me?

[James Kendrick]

Lots of folks reporting system problems including BSODs and the like after applying these patches. I am not going to apply them to the new HP as a result and don't recommend anyone apply them yet.

[gr]

i got a BSOD after applying the USB fix. it has been fine ever since. i wonder if being connected to a USB hub/KB/mouse had anything to do with it?

[Zanshin]

John - If you are having issues copying files even with the patches, then that's a real shame. I found a free utility called Teracopy which is supposed to optimise file transfers and I am now using it religously. Although with one 200MB video file if it's taking 2 minutes to calculate that sounds like either a heavily fragmented or faulty hard drive to me.