[Steve]

Microsoft updates Vista's speed, stability, again...

Four separate updates improve Vista's speed, stability, compatability, and reliability, though Microsoft says the 'incremental' fixes are independent from the SP1 update

For the second time in two months, Microsoft has rolled out fixes to improve Windows Vista's speed and reliability.

The four separate updates, available now for download from the vendor's Web site, address several operating system performance and stability problems, deal with a dozen Universal Serial Bus issues, improve Windows Media Player, and patch Media Center.

Although Microsoft has put Windows Vista SP1 (Service Pack 1) in the hands of some testers, it has said it will continue to update the original Vista -- dubbed "RTM" for "release to manufacturing" -- even as it puts SP1 through its paces. Seven weeks ago, it issued a pair of updates that tackled numerous problems, offering them as optional items through Windows Update last month.

"[Tuesday's] updates are a collection of fixes that we have made to address a small set of reliability, compatibility, stability, security, and performance issues," a Microsoft spokeswoman said Wednesday. "[They] will provide incremental improvements to the most common issues -- but in general, these improvements or fixes are going to be very narrow in scope."

The widest ranging of yesterday's quartet was a 5.4MB update for multiple hardware and operating system issues that Microsoft said extends laptop battery life, improves the stability of wireless network connections, and deals with compatibility problems with some antivirus software.

Interestingly, the update also promised to shorten Vista start-up and resume-from-sleep times, problems that Microsoft had supposedly fixed with the August patches. Vista users have complained about Vista's slow start-up, shutdown and return from power-saving modes since at least April.

A second update, detailed in the KB941600 support document, is a cumulative roll-up of 12 fixes to Vista's USB components. In Microsoft's terminology, a "roll-up" is a collection of patches, similar to a service pack, but not tested as extensively. A similar cumulative update for Media Center is also available from the Microsoft download site; it deals with several specific problems, including some involving how Vista interacts with Microsoft Xbox 360 video game consoles.

The fourth update patches Windows Media Player 11, the default audio- and video-playing software included with the operating system. Microsoft offered few details -- a support document has not been added to the database -- but the company's spokeswoman said that the 8.8MB download for the 32-bit version of Vista "eliminates corruption of Media Player database in certain scenarios and of media stream in certain scenarios."

The updates will be distributed via Windows Update "in the near future," the spokeswoman added, but as in August, she would not pin them to a date. Microsoft's next scheduled Windows Update releases are due out next Tuesday.
Microsoft has aggressively promoted its ability to update Vista through Windows Update, even going so far as denying after Vista's launch that it needed to produce a comprehensive service pack, or SP1. It has continued to claim that most issues can be addressed by Windows Update.

Mike Nash, the Microsoft executive who leads Windows product management, was the latest to brag about Windows Update's prowess in keeping Vista running smoothly. "The really important updates we can release with Windows Update, and the need for a service pack is actually reduced," he said.

Original article here


And from neowin

1)

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 Internet Explorer when you open a Web page.
• 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.
This update also resolves the following issues in Windows Vista:
• 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.

Update for Windows Vista (KB941649):
Download for: 32-bit | 64-bit | More info.

2)

Cumulative update rollup for USB core components in Windows Vista

Issues that are fixed in the update rollup
925528 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925528/ (kb/925528/) Stop errors occur on a Windows-based computer that has 2GB or more of RAM and is using an NVIDIA nForce USB controller
929734 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929734/ (kb/929734/) You may experience problems after you resume a Windows Vista-based computer from sleep or from hibernation
930568 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930568/ (kb/930568/) Error message when you try to put a Windows Vista-based computer to sleep or into hibernation: "STOP 0x000000FE BUGCODE_USB_DRIVER"
929478 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929478/ (kb/929478/) After you use the Safely Remove Hardware option to remove a built-in optical drive from a portable Windows Vista-based computer, you may be unable to reconnect the drive
930570 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930570/ (kb/930570/) Error message in the Usbhub.sys process when you wake a Windows Vista-based computer from sleep or from hibernation: "STOP 0x00000044"
928631 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928631/ (kb/928631/) A USB device may no longer work correctly after Windows Vista resumes from sleep or from hibernation
933433 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933433/ (kb/933433/) Recording quality is poor when you use a USB microphone on a Windows Vista-based computer that has 4 GB of RAM or more
933442 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933442/ (kb/933442/) A USB composite device does not work after you disable and then enable the device in Device Manager on a computer that is running Windows Vista
934633 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934633/ (kb/934633/) When you connect a USB multifunction printer device to a Windows Vista-based computer, a second instance of the printer object is created, and the first instance no longer works
934796 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934796/ (kb/934796/) Error message on a Windows Vista-based computer that is running a USB composite device: "STOP 0x000000FE"
933824 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933824/ (kb/933824/) The Safely Remove Hardware feature and the Windows Explorer "Eject" command do not work correctly with an Apple iPod that is connected to a Windows Vista-based computer
935782 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935782/ (kb/935782/) A USB device takes a long time to resume from "selective suspend" mode on a Windows Vista-based computer that uses UHCI USB controllers
935783 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935783/ (kb/935783/) When you resume a Windows Vista-based computer from sleep, you may experience unexpected behaviour from a USB device

Update for Windows Vista (KB941600):
Download for: 32-bit | 64-bit | More info

3)

This is a reliability update. Install this update to improve the reliability of Windows Media Player 11 for Windows Vista in certain scenarios.

Update for Windows Vista (KB941651)
Download for: 32-bit | 64-bit

Get them while they are hot