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Microsoft releases SP2 for Vista

The English version of Windows Vista SP2 is now available for download here. As Microsoft themselves put it on the page;

Service Pack 2 for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista (SP2) is an update to Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 that supports new kinds of hardware and emerging hardware standards, and includes all updates delivered since SP1. SP2 simplifies administration by enabling IT administrators to deploy and support a single service pack for clients and servers. Please see the Windows Server SP2/Windows Vista SP2 page on TechNet/MSDN for additional details and documentation.
Windows Vista SP2 TechNet
Windows Server 2008 SP2 TechNet
SP2 is an update to Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista that incorporates improvements discovered through automated feedback, as well as updates that have been delivered since SP1. By providing these fixes integrated into a single service pack for both client and server, Microsoft provides a single high-quality update that minimizes deployment and testing complexity for customers.
Service Pack 1 is a prerequisite for installing Service Pack 2. Please make sure that your system is running Service Pack 1 before you install Service Pack 2.
Note: Windows Server 2008 released with Service Pack 1 included. Windows Vista SP1 information and downloads can be found on the Windows Vista SP1 TechNet page.
Windows Server 2008 SP2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 – Five Language Standalone version can be installed on x64-based systems with any of the following language versions: English, French, German, Japanese, or Spanish.
If your system has additional languages please use the All Language Standalone to install SP2.

Basically most bugs have been fixed, and some additional functionality have been added, for instance the ability to burn Blueray discs from the OS. So if you are still running Vista, head on over an start the downloads.

Clubhouse Tags: clubhouse, story, windows vista, service pack 2, download

Popularity: 17% [?]

The SuperSite Switcher Guide: From Mac OS X to Windows

Paul Thurrott of WinSuperSite fame is putting together a series of articles on how to live in both the Max OS X and Windows world. Of course Paul wouldn’t be Paul if he didn’t poke a little fun at the Mac fanatics, both with the title of the article series and his writing style.

The first article in the series; Introduction is up on his site now, and it is a good teaser for what hopefully is to come. I think Paul has made a smart choice in not allowing comments on the articles, but keeping it to his blog. There I am sure the so called iCabal will let their mouths off.

What would be interesting was if people actually would read what he is saying without adding their own prejudices into it. Yes, Paul is a Windows guy, and yes he loves to get the Apple boys up and running, but Jesus – it is really easy to do…

Anyways, looking forward to the rest of the articles.

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Whatever happened to my blogging…?

Good intentions are obviously not enough! I had every intention of blogging here regularly, but as is quite obvious, that has not happened – at all! So enough of empty promises – I will only now say that I will try to keep this blog alive. How often I will blog? Well… as often as I feel like it.

A lot has changed since I last blogged when it comes to my computers, software I use as well as in my personal life;

- I still have the Hp dv9074ea laptop, but I have formatted the hard drive and installed Windows Vista Ultimate x64 on it this time around. I am very satisfied with the performance of the computer, although I wished that I could add some more RAM. Alas, I have already topped it with a maximum of 2 GB. On the negative, I must mention that along with a lot of other Hp dv users I have had to send in my machine for a motherboard replacement as the laptop totally died on me some months ago.

I had at the time also purchased a Hp dv6055 for my wife, that also ran into the same problem, only a couple of months after I bought it. Terrible! Besides that very annoying malfunction on both laptops we are both very satisfied with the performance of the machines.

- I have upgraded my desktop so that it now has a Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor with 6 GB of RAM, a Powercolor Radeon HD 4870 graphics card on a ASUS P5K-E Wireless motherboard. I have of course installed Windows Vista Ultimate x64 on this machine as well. It is a fast! machine that meets all my computing needs and then some. Although I am no heavy gamer, I do play the occasional game, and Crysis runs beautifully on it.

On a more personal note I am very happy to say that me and my wife are expecting our third child! 8 years since last time, but we are really looking forward to our new family member. And the kids just cannot wait until they see their new sister or brother. It has been so long since last time, that it almost feels like its the first time for both of us! Couldn’t have been better!

About future blogging;

Having 2 laptops and 2 desktops in the house means that there is a lot of maintenance to do. And there are multiple copies of files spread over the lot. I have downloaded Live Mesh and SyncToy 2 and are at the moment trying to figure out how to sync my data between the different machines. For instance I would really like to have all my email on both my laptop and my desktop. I manage email through Outlook 2007 with the Outlook Connector software for gmail and hotmail, but I have not yet had the time to figure out how I will sync mail between the machines in order to have everything on both machines at the same time. I think SyncToy will do the trick. I will post here when I figure out how to do that.

Another topic is sharing multimedia data in the household. On the desktop hard disc I have more than 15000 digital pictures as well as approximately 7000 songs. I would really like to share these files with the rest of the computers in the household as well as to the Xbox 360. Windows Vista makes it easy to share and access, but being on a mostly wireless home network (g) I am not too impressed with the speed and usability. I will have to delve further into how to make my setup more user friendly. Posts to follow.

Well I think that should be enough for now. Promising more will probably be promising too much at the moment.

Any hints or tips on those topics are welcome indeed.

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The Ultimate Disappointment

I will not say that the Ultimate Extras were the deciding factor for me when I chose the Ultimate version for my laptop as well as the desktop, but the promise of “all” those extras were there. As is already quite obvious there haven’t been to many extras yet; Texas Hold Em Poker and some tools for the Bitlocker application. Dreamscene was just a beta (sorry; Preview) that was dropped early on and then nothing untill yesterday when it finally was released in full.

I, as well as many others, immediately downloaded the update and the extended content pack. The latter holding a whopping total of 3 additional scenes ! (1) Another riverfall – quite nice to look at, (2) A glowing Vista orb and (3) some machinelike looking futuristic whatever….

Is that all(!) Of course in the WindowsVistablog it was pointed out that with the DeskScapes add-on from Stardock you could also play back .dreams clips, a wealth of which you could find on the Stardock WinCustomize site….

True. The Dreamscenes are appealing to the eye – but for how long? For now I have it turned on, and it remains to be seen for how long that will continue. As for the comments on how much the CPU is taxed with DreamScenes on; on my system the load when “only” having Dreamscenes going (plus all the resident programs in the taskbar as well as the sidebar with numerous gadgets) the CPU is taxed between 30-50%…

I have been waiting for something like an Ultimate Extra add-on, something useful and handy, and that is all for now? Come on Microsoft – You need to do better that that. This was disappointing.

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Setting up my home network with Windows Vista

In one of my previous posts I promised some words on setting up a home network with Vista. At home I have ADSL (12000/650) provided by Norways biggest broadband/telephone/cellular provider Telenor. We have a total of 4 computers in the household, all of them running on different versions of Vista; (1) The family desktop computer situated in my upstairs den – A Fujitsu Siemens Scaleo 600 running Windows Vista Ultimate, (2) My laptop – A HP Pavilion dv9074ea desktop replacement system that has taken over the role of my main computer also running Windows Vista Ultimate, (3) my sons desktop, a home built system with the AMD Athlon 2600 CPU running Windows Vista Home Premium and finally an (4) aging Toshiba Satellite S121 laptop that barely runs Windows Vista Basic. On top of that we have a couple of rooms to let, presently occupied by a student running Windows XP Home.

Since the household computers are spread out over the three floors of the house, wiring were out of the question. Telenor provides the DSL modem, a Thompson SpeedTouch 564T2, and my wireless router is a D-link 624 54g.

Setting up a wireless network in Vista is simplicity itself. After getting connected to my provider having set up the modem and wireless router, setting the D-624 to filter by MAC adress as well as WPA encryption the routine is as follows;

1. Connect to your network by right-clikcing the network icon and then choosing that spesific option in the taskbar.

2. Choose your wireless network from the list

3. Enter the WPA encryption key

4. You are connected.

5. Repeat the above steps for the other computers as well

To see all your networked computers go into the Network and Sharing Center and choose to map your network (View Full Map);

It cannot be simpler than that! A huge improvement over the way I had to set everything up in Windows XP SP2 not even mentioning how it was done pre- SP2.

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