Microsoft to release fix for Windows Shortcut flaw on Monday

Layback Bear said:

To keep it simple. So far M/S has made Windows 7 work as it should and the few updates work as they should. I have to add; it's about time.

+1 Well put.

Petey7 said:

Win7User512 said:

Night Hawk said:

XP on the other hand was desperite for SP3! What a contrast from 7!

I disagree. SP3 was nothing but security patches that people already had or would have gotten. I'm not aware of any added features or efficiency improvements. That would be SP2.

Features added to SP3:
-Turns black hole router detection on by default
-Network Access Protection client
-Group Policy support for IEEE 802.1X authentication for wired network adapters.
-Credentials Security Service Provider
-Descriptive Security options in Group Policy/Local Security Policy user interface
-An updated version of the Microsoft Enhanced Cryptographic Provider Module (RSAENH) that is FIPS 140-2 certified (SHA-256, SHA-384 and SHA-512 algorithms)
-Installing without requiring a product key during setup for retail and OEM versions

There might be more, but none of them were nearly needed as much as most of what was included in SP2

But how many of those were already updates. From what I read at the time, SP3 was just a bundle of them so that they could be more easily slipstreamed.

Win7User512 said:

Petey7 said:

Win7User512 said:

I disagree. SP3 was nothing but security patches that people already had or would have gotten. I'm not aware of any added features or efficiency improvements. That would be SP2.

Features added to SP3:
-Turns black hole router detection on by default
-Network Access Protection client
-Group Policy support for IEEE 802.1X authentication for wired network adapters.
-Credentials Security Service Provider
-Descriptive Security options in Group Policy/Local Security Policy user interface
-An updated version of the Microsoft Enhanced Cryptographic Provider Module (RSAENH) that is FIPS 140-2 certified (SHA-256, SHA-384 and SHA-512 algorithms)
-Installing without requiring a product key during setup for retail and OEM versions

There might be more, but none of them were nearly needed as much as most of what was included in SP2

But how many of those were already updates. From what I read at the time, SP3 was just a bundle of them so that they could be more easily slipstreamed.

Those were all brand new and only available with SP3 (I did some checking to be sure). The new features that were already updates include:
-Windows Imaging Component
-IPSec Simple Policy Update for simplified creation and maintenance of IPSec filters
-Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) 2.5
-MSXML 6.0 SP2 and XMLLite
-Microsoft Management Console 3.0
-Credential Roaming service (Digital Identity Management Service) update
-Remote Desktop Protocol 6.1
-Peer Name Resolution Protocol 2.1
-Network Diagnostics update
-WPA2 Update (KB893357)
-Windows Script 5.7
-Windows Installer 3.1 v2

And the list goes on and on. So you partially right, as many features called "new" were already available as updates and all the updates from the two years between SP2 and SP3 were the main attraction. But the list from before were indeed, new with SP3. I still agree with you that SP2 was the more important of the two by all means.

Each SP is a rollup but not only a rollup of updates. For XP there were numerous fixes to be seen in the SP3 coming through channels somewhat. Vista's SP1 was important for that version as well.

7 however has the advantage of far more public tryouts between beta and RCs then seen with the previous versions where MS collected all kinds of feedback to see 7 a working success from the start. As someone else had pointed out some time back "right out of the box". The rush for an SP simply isn't needed with this one.

Night Hawk said:

Each SP is a rollup but not only a rollup of updates. For XP there were numerous fixes to be seen in the SP3 coming through channels somewhat. Vista's SP1 was important for that version as well.

7 however has the advantage of far more public tryouts between beta and RCs then seen with the previous versions where MS collected all kinds of feedback to see 7 a working success from the start. As someone else had pointed out some time back "right out of the box". The rush for an SP simply isn't needed with this one.

I just don't think you can compare the importance of XP SP2 or Vista SP1 with XP SP3. XP SP2 had major feature additions/improvements and Vista SP1 had efficiency updates (regarding copying/moving and deleting files). SP3 is really a bundle of ordinary things similar to updates in 7 (right management, reliability, Vista contexts, etc).

What's more, the only reason I want the 7 SP1 is the updated Remote Desktop.

Most I've talked with on XP's last SP there mention noting that XP was running far better following the installation. That pertains to stability as well as performance for the old version there. The news on support for XP is one you won't like however being that it's nearly a decade old at this point. How long will Microsoft support XP, Vista, and Windows 7?

What gets you however with that is with the Enterprise and Pro editions of 7 receiving the extended support while the Ultimate ends up with Starter?

That's a good assessment! I haven't personally had any problems with even the beta version of any SP to date. But many saw problems with both XP's and Vista's SP2 and some with XP's SP3 apparently.

The one thing not seen with Vista and not likely to be with 7 once a service pack goes on is a change in the boot screen for 7 definitely with the new look there and watching Vista's green scroll bar turn blue for the previous version there as seen with XP going green to blue. Some wonder why this wasn't seen anymore.

The roll up of updates as well as what new support is added into an SP is the main things looked at here especially if you need to perform a clean install of Windows at some point. The first step here is to download the redistributable version of any SP to keep onhand for both 32bit and 64bit versions of it. The disk iso version for both is typically the choice to have on dvd in case you need to update more then one system.