Take Windows Vista Compatibility, Reliability, and Stability Up a Notch

Microsoft is offering Windows Vista users the means to take Windows Vista compatibility, reliability and stability up a notch ahead of the release of the first service pack for the operating system. In this context, the Redmond company has been hammering away at Vista, since the client hot the shelves in January 2007 with constant refreshes served through the Windows Update infrastructure. Although Windows Update is not yet a fully fledged substitute for the service pack release practice, Microsoft has hinted that small and incremental updates are the way of the future, in contrast to large and bloated refreshes.

Starting with its debut on the market, Vista has had quite a rough ride, experiencing a plethora of issues, mostly centered around software and hardware incompatibilities, as well as performance. Microsoft will address the rough corners of the operating system with the release of Vista SP1, but up until 2008, the company is also making available a suite of updates designed to increase user experience by fine tuning problematic aspects of the product. This is the case for a 32-bit and 64-bit Vista compatibility, reliability, and stability update.

Update for Windows Vista (KB941649) (download 32-bit and 64-bit) was initially introduced at the beginning of October, but towards the end of the past month it got well, updated. The refresh is an integer part of the enhancements coming to Vista with SP1 in the first quarter of 2008.

Microsoft revealed that "this update improves the compatibility, reliability, and stability of Windows Vista. This update includes the following improvements:

￭ 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 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."