Vista patches leaked - Service Pack 1 coming?

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 31 July 2007 12:21

Business IT - Technology

Beta versions of two hotfix packs for Windows Vista have been leaked, leading to speculation that they may form the basis of a service pack.

Microsoft apparently released two Vista Compatibility and Reliability Packs numbered 938194 and 938979 to testers, but they have turned up on unofficial download sites. (iTWire is not providing links in case the files have been tampered with.)

938194 addresses issues relating to graphics (including HD DVD and Blu-ray playback on large monitors), Internet Explorer, networking, printing, sleep and systems upgraded from Windows XP.

938979 is concerned with issues reported by customers, notably in the areas of screensavers, Internet Explorer, hibernation and sleep, file copying and memory management.

One possibility is that the patches will be released along with Microsoft's routine 'Patch Tuesday' security updates, but whether that will happen on August 14 - and whether they will be labelled as a service pack - remains to be seen.

Generally, Microsoft recommends that hotfixes are only applied to systems exhibiting the specific symptoms that they address, while service packs are intended for general deployment.