Windows 7 SP1 to start rolling out on Windows Update

I think you'll find that Microsoft has done this with every OS that received service packs. It's SOP for Microsoft to do this.

indianacarnie said:

..I do understand others trepidation about updates though. Xp's first service pack comes to mind, had a lot of trouble with that one.

alphanumeric said:

I've seen instances where a SP breaks something and then that user avoids it like the plague.

Exactly. With XP I waited until SP2 because of the SP1 horror stories. With 7 I also heard some unpleasant things about SP1, so I never installed it; waited for SP2. When I heard there would be no SP2 I didn't worry about it because my regular 7 was working just fine, and I kept it updated anyway.

Then I found out that support would end in April for non-SP1 7's. So I finally got it earlier this month. To my pleasant surprise there were absolutely no issues with the update, and none since. This could be due to the fact I had to reinstall 7 after a HDD death, so perhaps any junk that might have gotten in the way was gone.

In any case, I am now happily cruising the Information Superhighway in my brand new SP1.

Hi there
SP1 STILL doesn't fix some of the better "Activation Bypass schemes" -- To any MS person who might be reading this post - a suggestion on how to fix this -- These activation schemes usually involve in "converting the Retail copy to a VL enterprise copy" - I don't have any idea how they do this but I am assured by "people in the know" that this is quite a simple process - and then simulating a KMS activation service .

Apparently this will still pass genuine activation tests -- so Ms I'd definitely look at plugging this glaring loophole.

The activation process in W8 BTW seems much more robust although there are a few copies around in the wild. I tested one which passed the activation test -- and sent a note to Ms of the result and a link to the torrent where I found it. (Tested on a VM BTW --you never know what other "Goodies" might have been added as well).

Good to see that the torrent has now been removed with the note "Removed by content owner's request" who I assume is Ms.

( I don't normally try these things but I was curious to see if Ms had fixed the "Activation leak" problem described in W7 - obviously their processes still need some changes ).

I think though unfortunately all this is leading us inexorably to a "Subscription Model" -- such as Office 365.

Cheers
jimbo

NoelDP said:

cbiweb said:

Exactly. With XP I waited until SP2 because of the SP1 horror stories. With 7 I also heard some unpleasant things about SP1, so I never installed it; waited for SP2. When I heard there would be no SP2 I didn't worry about it because my regular 7 was working just fine, and I kept it updated anyway.

Then I found out that support would end in April for non-SP1 7's. So I finally got it earlier this month. To my pleasant surprise there were absolutely no issues with the update, and none since. This could be due to the fact I had to reinstall 7 after a HDD death, so perhaps any junk that might have gotten in the way was gone.

In any case, I am now happily cruising the Information Superhighway in my brand new SP1.

The problem with XP SP1 (original version) was that MS ignored the Prescott chip which used different microcode. That's why they released SP1a, which included the Prescott code.

It was also the beginning of the reign of terror in terms of Viruses, and there were a large number of infected machines, which updates barfed on. The SP2 pack was much more resilient, and failed more gracefully if necessary.

CBS updating seems generally to have made the update process more resilient and less prone to irremediable failure - even if it does have its minor drawbacks.

Hi there
You still haven't addressed the problem of how easy it is for the whole activation process to be bypassed --SP1 doesn't address the Piracy in any way whatsoever.

I don't know how W8 does it but it seems that the process is a lot more secure.

Note I'm not talking about UEFI and protected boot -- protected boot is a real pain for people who either "Dual / Multi-boot" or simply want to try out various OS'es such as Linux distros on their machines from time to time.

Making Bootable restorable images with UEFI secure boot systems isn't so simple any more either.

As far as "The reign of Terror" for viruses -- we've moved on hugely since XP days (now over 10 years ago) -- hacking individual computers isn't "Cool" anymore and detection in real time such as MSE in real time is streets ahead of what was available back then. (Note though MSE is still supported on XP so XP isn't as leaky as people think it might be).

What people want to do these days is more akin to "Cyber crime" - Bring down systems like NYSE, NASDAQ, FBI, CIA, Banks, International global companies (Shell,Coca Cola etc), Pentagon and generally cause total chaos.

Individuals when not involved in Cyber Crime find it much more profitable to operate simple Internet Fraud and Identity Theft -- I'll bet very few people on this board have any idea how much an almost undetectable Fake US Passport is worth on "The Black Market" and I'm not saying either --other than some people have amassed very considerable amounts of money like this. (Not me I might add- remember I've worked in some very "dubious" places in my career and seen this type of stuff).

Nobody is really interested in some socially challenged sub teen's attempt in spreading a Trojan or some miserable piece of malware these days. They don't do anything anymore as the remedy is nothing more than a simple image restore (15 mins on typical hardware).

Wasting time spending hours on "Virus removal" is simply total effort and time wasted - just reformat and restore.

If you don't have adequate and clean backup then you deserve everything you get.

Cheers
jimbo

@ Jimbo Corporate versions of Windows 8 have to reactivate after a set time period. I think it's every 120 days. The new trick is fake KMS servers. Only now they have to find one every 120 days. I would think Microsoft is actively looking for those and taking them down when they can. It's still a cat and mouse game.