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Print E-mail del.icio.us 128 comment(s) - last by 1078feba.. on Oct 9 at 10:26 AM
Microsoft releases KB941649 hotfix which "improves the compatibility, reliability, and stability of Windows Vista"

When people talk about Windows Vista these days, two things often come to mind: the perceived inferiority to the six-year-old Windows XP operating system (which also just happened to get a new lease on life) and what Service Pack 1 (SP1) will bring to the table as far as improvements are concerned.

In the mean time, Microsoft is proceeding with continual improvements to Windows Vista ahead of the official release of SP1. Microsoft yesterday released a new hotfix, KB941649, which "improves the compatibility, reliability, and stability of Windows Vista."

KB941649 address the following issues:

  • It extends the battery life for mobile devices.
  • It improves the stability of portable computers and of desktop computers that use an uninterruptable power supply (UPS).
  • It improves the reliability of Windows Vista when you open the menu of a startup application.
  • It improves the stability of Internet Explorer when you open a Web page.
  • 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.
  • It shortens the recovery time when you try to exit the Photos screen saver.
  • It improves the stability of Windows PowerShell.
  • 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.

If you're running Windows Vista it might be wise to install this latest hotfix to see if it may fix some of your OS woes.

Updated 10/4/2007
Microsoft just sent an email to beta testers informing them that a beta of Windows XP SP3 is now available for download. The update weighs in at 334.92 MB. No other details are available on the update.

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So far I haven't experienced problems with Vista...
By iFX on 10/4/2007 11:00:57 AM , Rating: 5
My only woe is that my sound card doesn't work... but no big deal.

I have been running Vista since June of 2006 and have yet to encounter the massive problems that many people have - maybe I am lucky, but something tells me these people had the same problems with XP, 2000, ME, 98, etc, etc. MS can't fix people being dumb.

I don't do anything speacial to my system. I pop the DVD and loan the OS like everyone else. I install my apps and use them like everyone else - somehow I don't have problems... Hmmm. Wonder why?




By FITCamaro on 10/4/2007 11:08:31 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Hmmm. Wonder why?


You're not an ignorant consumer who runs in fear at the sign of the first problem.


By DeepBlue1975 on 10/4/2007 11:15:13 AM , Rating: 5
Bet you're not a gamer :D (I'm not either)

Most problems with Vista had been about (very) lousy video card drivers, specially for SLI / Crossfire setups.

I didn't fully swith to Vista until I could get a new machine with 2gbs of RAM (I tested the RCs with 1gb and they performed quite good, though I could spot some minor annoyances that I don't see any more in the final version)

The only thing I do not like at all in Vista, though, is the reworked user interface for network settings. No matter how much I keep using Vista, that part still feels awkward (maybe a bit "over the top" as for user friendliness) to me in comparison with XP.


By TomZ on 10/4/2007 11:20:23 AM , Rating: 2
I think the new networking stuff in Vista is great - especially its ability to detect and repair problems. When I first set up my wireless connection, it wasn't working, and Vista's repair detected that the wireless service wasn't running, and it enabled that and fixed the problem. I wouldn't have ever thought to look at that myself. Saved me lots of grief, I'm sure.


By DeepBlue1975 on 10/4/2007 11:27:06 AM , Rating: 4
Yes, the stuff is far more "aware" than XP's.
It's just that I don't like the interface at all.

Every time I need to try something specific, I have to go through much more menus that I needed in XP, that's all what my annoyance is about (one I can certainly live with, otherwise I would have switched back to XP already, which I didn't and don't intend to do anyway)


By Master Kenobi (blog) on 10/4/2007 11:32:15 AM , Rating: 4
You do know you can change the UI to XP style right?


By threepac3 on 10/4/2007 12:10:11 PM , Rating: 2
I think he was talking about the new way Vista moved old menus/dialog boxes locations. For example in Vista to access the old Display properties you must navigate through at least one more menu that was not there in XP.


By Chadder007 on 10/4/2007 12:47:58 PM , Rating: 2
Agreed. I don't like it.


By omnicronx on 10/4/2007 3:17:05 PM , Rating: 3
I have no problem whatsoever of having to go through one extra menu if it means my cousin or little sister can't click on something by accident and change everything. It seems pretty apparent to me most of the menu changes moved options that should not have been so easy to access in the first place.

Changes in vista were not specifically for the power user that knows all, they wanted to simplify the O/S and make it a bit harder to change options that are not changed on a regular basis or need to be touched at all.

Most peoples gripe about Windows is that its not user friendly like MAC OSX. I personally like the changes and do not mind going through an extra menu to get to something i will change once or twice.

If MS didn't change vista to be more user friendly, we would have the same people complaining about the interface and how its hard for some users to comprehend. Double edged sword in my books, I think MS made the right decision though.


By mars777 on 10/4/2007 6:33:31 PM , Rating: 4
Your little sister using her login shouldn't be able to change everything.

She could change settings of her user like: desktop, icons, style.

Not date and time, installed programs (well on unixoids this is ok - doing it in home folders), drivers, network settings and the like.

And then again if she wrecks her user she must delete her profile, using the administrator settings. Or better than that, you do it remotely.

Unix / Linux people know how to fix problems easily by deleting the . from home folders...

But what Windows is trying is make an UI where you have one button and when you press it, its does what you want. Well i call that "utopia". Don't scare people by removing options from version to version, making them more afraid and more dumb to change something.

If you change then you fix. Improve the OS in such way it cant be wrecked up or rendered useless in two months. And if that happens, make it easily fixable.

But "putting less buttons to not wreck the OS" is so... "monolitic"... ah yes that's what their kernel is called :)
It's an all in one bulky kernel.


By Ringold on 10/4/2007 8:13:38 PM , Rating: 4
quote:
It's an all in one bulky kernel.


Sort of like.. every major Linux distro! Wow!

Of course, you can roll your own, which you can not do with Windows, but what tiny fraction of the population are we talking about here cares if feature x or y is right in the kernel?

I think I have an answer for that. It's the number of people that install Gentoo from the ground up. In other words, a percentage more easily expressed in scientific notation. :P

I think for people that want things "to just work" and look pleasant, without the simplicity and fanaticism of the Mac world, but actually value their time and dont want to get a computer science degree to operate their OS in a variety of ways then Vista is just right. Tons of tweaks available for those who care, ease of use for those who don't.


By Necaradan666 on 10/6/2007 1:09:09 AM , Rating: 2
Incorrect. It takes the same amount of clicks to get into Display Properties in Vista, eg.

Vista: Right-click once on desktop. Left-click once on menu. Left-click once on Display Properties link. 3 clicks.

XP: Right-click once on desktop. Left click once on menu. Left-click once on Display Properties tab. 3 clicks.

It actually takes one more click on Vista to get to wallpaper changer, but that is only because on XP Display properties opens by default on the wallpaper tab.


By DeepBlue1975 on 10/4/2007 3:02:00 PM , Rating: 3
I have nothing against the Aero style. In fact, I happen to like it quite a bit (I don't find myself using aero flip, though... I try to remember myself of using it but I keep on forgetting, so I guess I'm not gonna keep trying that :D )

I just don't like that some of the advanced network configurations are hidden deeper than they were on XP and the (luckily few) times I have to get there, I do get a bit lost.

I didn't neither try the search feature nor the nice trick described to get "administrator CMD shell", which I'm gonna try as soon as I get home today :D


By kinnoch on 10/5/2007 3:11:33 AM , Rating: 3
by trick do you mean search for it, right click it and select run as administrator? or is there a niftier way?


By imperator3733 on 10/4/2007 9:17:25 PM , Rating: 2
Where did you hear that? Vista doesn't have the XP style. Are you confusing that with the XP rendering system for the low-end systems? The rendering system and the theme are not the same thing.


By shamgar03 on 10/4/2007 11:54:15 AM , Rating: 2
I agree. It took me an hour to reset my ip address the first time. You have to go through something like 6 menus. I should have just gone to the command prompt and used ipconfig


By Etsp on 10/4/2007 12:02:35 PM , Rating: 5
Ha! Little did you know that if you didn't disable UAC, cmd doesn't give you administrative access.

So if you tried the ipconfig /release and /renew... you would have gotten weird errors. If you have UAC running, use the little search bar at the bottom of the start menu, it works like the run command, except with one little perk...if you hit ctrl+shift+enter it will run cmd as an administrator, without the need to dig through the menus to right-click...or you can search for cmd using the same bar and right-click on it anyway = /


By The Sword 88 on 10/5/2007 12:51:42 AM , Rating: 2
Awesome tip


By BitJunkie on 10/4/2007 1:41:58 PM , Rating: 5
Try:
1) Tapping the windows key
2) Typing what you want in the search box
3) Hit "enter"

It's one of the key advantages of Vista, once you get familiar with it, you feel lost going back to XP. Often you only need the first 3 or 4 letters to get the hit you want. Using that you can get to most stuff in 5 to 10 secs, max. You'll also find that "dev man" gets you device manager or "use acc" user acco