Vista SP2 - Must I Download it ?

I`m new to all this wizz bang technology (played around with zx-80,trs-80,vic20,ti-994a as a kid) i`ve just taken up PC`s as a hobby again 20 years later so please excuse my ignorance!

Is it to early to seek advice about SP2 for Vista as its untried so far except only in its Beta form?

To quote one source about SP2 I recently Googled --->

" Installing an SP on top of an already running OS can cause issues. It's better to install SP2 at the time of installing the OS. "

I have SP1 installed and the OS is running fine - the very few `goodies` that come with SP2, bluetooth compatability blah blah blah are quite useless to me and apparently SP2 includes all of SP1`s updates.....and i already got the Search 4.0 update some weeks ago.....

So should I just hide the SP2 for now? Download later? What are other Vista users doing? A 300mb download for what exactly? :confused :confused :confused thanks very much and thankyou

 

Thanks for the prompt reply Halo

Windows update states that the `important` update is 337.9mb - 343.9mb in size....
I only just downloaded SP1 last week as i had to reinstall Vista (corrupted registry.....yes i know i shouldnt play in there..!)

I`ll go ahead with the download...maybe the TCP/IP tweak will give my lazy wireless connection a boost. Thanks again

 

I would rather download and integrate SP2 using vLite than the fiasco I had last week with WU. I had changed updates from never to just check for updates and bloody thing went ahead and updated. There is a reason why I run 24/7 and this was inexcusable behaviour as I woke up and the machine had rebooted dutifully waiting for a password. Needless to say the radio button is now again set on never.I hope I didn't go OT too much here.:-o:-D

 

Concerning my lazy internet connection --
I have wireless broadband and my ISP tells me i should i get a speed of about 1.5mbps.
Until i came across the Firefox add-on `Firedownload 1.0.4` i was averaging around 100kbps , now its around 400kbps.
My signal strength is always 100%
I have done the mandatory about:config tweaks with Firefox.
Disabled javascript and java.
Tried a myriad of freeware internet optimizers which have never helped.
The only time i get stutters is maybe when traffic is high.
My modem is a Maxon model BP3-EXT.

I think I`ll pass on the integration thing Augiedoggie but will definetly learn more about Halo`s suggestion about slipstreaming...I dont want to do these SP updates again in the future...I just love mucking about with registry tweaks I come across....so at my knowledge level I guess I can expect a few more re-installs in the future...how else to learn about my OS..lol!

 

Same thing, different terminology. Slipstreaming is actually a manufacturing term and is a misnomer by legions of folks, just like hacker got the cracker reputation, and undeservedly so. I never update my original DVD, I integrate and then burn a new DVD juuust in case I screwed up and keep the MS DVD in a safe place.

 

Thanks for the clarification on the integration/slipstream auggiedoggie i`ll be studying up on that and have a go at it sometime soon.

I`ve downloaded and extracted Halo`s suggestion of the app `Vista Anti Lag` though I cant get it to run/install.

How can i use the following info to my advantage ??
If its to technical to explain here thats fine. Thanks.

Description:
Stopped working

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: val.exe
Application Version: 0.0.0.0
Application Timestamp: 461be46b
Fault Module Name: ntdll.dll
Fault Module Version: 6.0.6001.18000
Fault Module Timestamp: 4791a7a6
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 0006814c
OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 3081

 

jeez thats not a patch thats bigger than WinXP :-D

I've got Vista Home Premium on a laptop i've inherited . Its only used to store and upload media so I'll hold off for now methinks .

 

If you're concerned about SP 2 gobbling up drive space when installed, I believe you do not need to be worried about that. After I installed SP2 in my Vista Home Premium laptop, free space on C actually increased by over 1GB. I can't say that this will happen on your laptop or other computers in general, but that's what happened with my system.

 

I have a ASUS X51RLseries laptop.....2gig ram...120gb HD...500gb external HD
Modem is external, two antennas

i`ll let you know if the SP2 has improved TCP/IP for me.

Thanks

 

thanks no it wasn't the space it takes up, more the amount of download time. it would consume nearly 1/6th my monthly BB download allowance on my current tarrif

 

what are the specific benefits of Vista SP2 then ?

I have run XP without any SP's for years with no problems whatsoever .

 

Halo posted the link re info about it in his reply #2. Again, here's the link. Read it. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd335036.aspx

 

I know but Dom was promoting the use of SP2 specifically to me so I was asking him what he thought the advantages were for me. most people just follow others without considering the pros and cons I wanted to know what Dom thought the benefits would be to me

 

thats ok Dom i was just pulling your chain If Vista runs perfectly without problems and without the service pack I see no need to intoduce potential problems with downloading it just yet.

Most of the XP service packs related to stuff i was never likely to use or specific to the US or just user monitoring software for MS.

XP SP's have caused me no end of problems with client's PCs due to system resource hogging at startup and incompatability issues etc etc .

 

I just downloaded the Excel spreadsheet containing a list of hotfixes and security updates in SP2. To download it, go to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd335033(WS.10).aspx it's an Excel 2007 file.

It contains 833 items! Some are only for Windows Server 2008, some are only for Windows Vista and good many are for both.

 

The download of SP2 was unexpectedly quick and hassle free compared to SP1

for me...and I now have roughly an extra Gig of free space on my C drive, how

that came about I have no idea....and no reason to complain...so far

 

See also http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=190696 for extra info. Bazza

 

Is it possible that someone could come up with an easier way to update ones vista installation to the present SP2 quickly for noobs like myself - If i have to reinstall vista for whatever reason its a long process to get completley updated -- my research on `integration` or `slipstreaming` gets more confusing as I search the web..(or should start looking at windows 7 instead?)
Quoted from the web -->
""An important point - you will be able to install Windows Vista SP2 only when your systems are already running Service Pack 1. Microsoft says that they chose not to offer a cumulative SP2 package this time to keep the file size under control.
If you’ve used vLite (or something similar) to slipstream Vista with SP1, you may receive certain errors while installing SP2 due to missing components. In that case, the best option is to either perform an in-place upgrade using your original Windows Vista DVD or reinstall Vista from scratch, then install SP1 followed by a file clean-up and then update to Service Pack 2.""

 

Ouch, I didn't know that SP2 would not integrate, my apologies as I just assumed it would.:-o According to KB968279 I haven't removed anything from my integrated Vista SP1 disk it just might work. I'll check this out and will report back.

 

Nope, vLite does not integrate SP2. I did some searching and found that 'reverse integration' works with the beta SP2, but it's very complicated and I won't even try.:eek It's probably simpler than what it looks like but I have better things to do.