May 16, 2011 10:44 GMT  ·  By

Time is running out for customers still leveraging Windows Vista plus the first Service Pack released by Microsoft.

Windows Vista SP1 has less than a couple of months of life left in it, support-wise. This because, Vista SP1 will reach end of support on July 12, 2011.

The best course of action for users is to make sure to upgrade as soon as possible, or at least start planning for the jump to a more recent release of Windows.

At this point in time customers have two options at their disposal, only one of which does not require them to actually change the operating system, namely moving to the second upgrade released for Vista.

“From that date onward, Microsoft will no longer provide support or free security updates for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1). In order to stay secure and continue support you must upgrade to Service Pack 2 (SP2),” revealed a member of the Microsoft Small Business team.

In addition to moving to Vista SP2, Windows 7 is also available as an upgrade alternative, and of course, one that’s far superior to its predecessor.

Microsoft is currently hard at work on the next version of the Windows client, but those on Vista SP1 should not expect for the successor of Windows 7 to come out before dumping Vista SP1.

Vista customers are bound to have found memories of the first upgrade offered by the Redmond company one year after the platform’s RTM.

Actual upgrade glitches aside, SP1 had one mission, to fix Vista RTM, and it did so admirably. Vista RTM performed quite poorly in a range of aspects, speed being one of them, and SP1 contributed to making the operating system a tad snappier.

Although Microsoft claimed that Vista SP1 was just a standard upgrade, the service pack was a little more consistent than Windows 7 SP1 which was as standard as they come.

Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 - Five Language Standalone DVD ISO (KB948465) is available for download here.

Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 - Five Language Standalone (KB948465) is available for download
here.

Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 - Five Language Standalone for x64-based systems (KB948465) is available for download
here.

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) RTM Build 7601.17514.101119-1850 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) RTM are available for download here.

Windows 7 RTM Enterprise 90-Day Evaluation is available for download here.