What's new in Win 7 SP1

[karlsnooks]

From Microsoft:

What's included in Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is an important update that includes previously released security, performance, and stability updates for Windows 7. SP1 also includes new improvements to features and services in Windows 7, such as improved reliability when connecting to HDMI audio devices, printing using the XPS Viewer, and restoring previous folders in Windows Explorer after restarting.

 

[Shark007]

Since your thread title reads "What's new in Win 7 SP1", the only true response is,

It has a crapload of fixes and security updates but, absolutely NOTHING is new.

 

[karlsnooks]

What's included in Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

 

[pparks1]

It has a crapload of fixes and security updates but, absolutely NOTHING is new.

Thank you, absolutely agree with you.

 

[electrotune1200]

Yeah that's for sure.

I'm affraid we'll probably never see another service pack like XP sp2. Practically gave us a new os. It was a nightmare for me to install though. That' when I officially started fresh installs when service packs were released.

 

[Brink]

From:

Notable Changes in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1.doc

See also: http://www.sevenforums.com/windows-...dows-7-service-pack-1-faqs-helpful-links.html



Changes specific to Windows 7

Additional support for communication with third-party federation services
Additional support has been added to allow Windows 7 clients to effectively communicate with third-party identity federation services (those supporting the WS-Federation passive profile protocol). This change enhances platform interoperability, and improves the ability to communicate identity and authentication information between organizations.

Improved HDMI audio device performance
A small percentage of users have reported issues in which the connection between computers running Windows 7 and HDMI audio devices can be lost after system reboots. Updates have been incorporated into SP1 to ensure that connections between Windows 7 computers and HDMI audio devices are consistently maintained.

Corrected behavior when printing mixed-orientation XPS documents
Prior to the release of SP1, some customers have reported difficulty when printing mixed-orientation XPS documents (documents containing pages in both portrait and landscape orientation) using the XPS Viewer, resulting in all pages being printed entirely in either portrait or landscape mode. This issue has been addressed in SP1, allowing users to correctly print mixed-orientation documents using the XPS Viewer.


Changes common to both client and server platforms

Change to behavior of “Restore previous folders at logon” functionality
SP1 changes the behavior of the “Restore previous folders at logon” function available in the Folder Options Explorer dialog. Prior to SP1, previous folders would be restored in a cascaded position based on the location of the most recently active folder. That behavior changes in SP1 so that all folders are restored to their previous positions.

Enhanced support for additional identities in RRAS and IPsec
Support for additional identification types has been added to the Identification field in the IKEv2 authentication protocol. This allows for a variety of additional forms of identification (such as E-mail ID or Certificate Subject) to be used when performing authentication using the IKEv2 protocol.

Support for Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX)
There has always been a growing need for ever more computing power and as usage models change, processors instruction set architectures evolve to support these growing demands. Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) is a 256 bit instruction set extension for processors. AVX is designed to allow for improved performance for applications that are floating point intensive. Support for AVX is a part of SP1 to allow applications to fully utilize the new instruction set and register extensions.

Improved Support for Advanced Format (512e) Storage Devices
SP1 introduces a number of key enhancements to improve support of recently introduced storage devices with a 4KB physical sector size (commonly referred to as "Advanced Format"). These enhancements include functionality fixes, improved performance, and updated storage drivers which provide applications the ability to retrieve information as to the physical sector size of storage device. More information on these enhancements is detailed in Microsoft KB 982018.

Conclusion

Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 represents Microsoft’s continuing commitment to quality. While many of the updates contained in SP1 are available as individual downloads, the integration of these updates in SP1 enhances the ease of deployment for IT administrators. This functionality, coupled with advanced new virtualization features such as Dynamic Memory and RemoteFX, demonstrates how SP1 provides the ongoing improvements customers and organizations alike have grown to expect from Microsoft.

 

[Fayla]

Some of my programs are using less memory than they did prior to SP1. For example, Firefox with 6 addons and one tab (this website) was running at 100MB memory usage. With SP and the same addon set it sits at a little above 50MB. In general, my computer's memory usage is down.

The HDMI improvements help since HDMI is my primary display connection method.

 

[pparks1]

Some of my programs are using less memory than they did prior to SP1. For example, Firefox with 6 addons and one tab (this website) was running at 100MB memory usage. With SP and the same addon set it sits at a little above 50MB. In general, my computer's memory usage is down.

This doesn't make much sense, how would the service pack alter the memory usage of firefox?

 

[Fayla]

FF was just an example of the change. I don't know why it is so, but it is. With my usual small set of programs open, according to the task manager my max RAM usage is now 30%-32%. pre SP1, with my usual programs open it was closer to 40% RAM usage or a little over.

Some of my programs are using less memory than they did prior to SP1. For example, Firefox with 6 addons and one tab (this website) was running at 100MB memory usage. With SP and the same addon set it sits at a little above 50MB. In general, my computer's memory usage is down.

This doesn't make much sense, how would the service pack alter the memory usage of firefox?

 

[mjf]

Since your thread title reads "What's new in Win 7 SP1", the only true response is,

It has a crapload of fixes and security updates but, absolutely NOTHING is new.

I'm begining to wonder.
I'm in a similar situation to many (Acer desktop OEM:SLP w7x64 OS). Have current updates and a number of earlier "Good" images.
(1) If I install an earlier image I will continue to get automatically missing updates - correct?
(2) Downloaded the "windows6.1-KB976932-X64.exe" 903MB. Took 45 min to run. Installed SP1 ok. A little longer to log on but no noticeable difference otherwise.

Will SP1 become mandatory for ongoing (and past) updates?

 

[WindowsStar]

If anyone would like to download it, here is the link to download it via the web browser.

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, Windows 7 SP1 | Download Service Pack

 

[Corrine]

Will SP1 become mandatory for ongoing (and past) updates?

I expect that down the road that will be the case, based on the standard Microsoft Support Lifecycle.

 

[sneakrnet]

Quote: Originally Posted by pparks1

Quote: Originally Posted by Lost Colonist
Some of my programs are using less memory than they did prior to SP1. For example, Firefox with 6 addons and one tab (this website) was running at 100MB memory usage. With SP and the same addon set it sits at a little above 50MB. In general, my computer's memory usage is down.

This doesn't make much sense, how would the service pack alter the memory usage of firefox?

Microsoft made the task manager report less memory usage for programs so you can feel good about doing the service pack update.

But getting serious,

Quote: Originally Posted by mjf
If I install an earlier image I will continue to get automatically missing updates - correct?

I know that at least one thing in SP1 was released only as a hotfix, not a general distribution update:

KB982018: An update that improves the compatibility of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 with Advanced Format Disks.
​

"Improves compatibility," is MSSpeak for "fixes some pretty serious bugs that could make certain system functions, such as Windows Update, stop working, and could cause disk corruption and data loss."

If there was one of those, there could be more, and that one is a pretty important one if you're using an Advanced Format Disk. Just based on that, unless Microsoft were to announce otherwise, I wouldn't rely on a pre-SP1 image getting fully updated by Windows Update.

Would you?

 

[karlsnooks]

SneakerNet,
Please read the entire thread, especially the information provided by Brink.

 

[sneakrnet]

I had already read the entire thread, including the post you mentioned? So? What does that have to do with my post?