Community Newsletter: Q&A: Should I download Windows Vista SP1 patch?
- 9/25/08 1:01 PM
Vista SP1
by donjudy2003 - 8/16/08 8:29 AM In reply to: Should I download Windows Vista SP1 patch? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Mary: I downloaded the SP1, and I had a lot of problems. My computer ran more slowly and I had far too many "freezes." I had to do a recovery and I have not re-installed SP1. Im not saying Im correct, but right now Im holding off. Don
Update to sp1
by jico62 - 8/16/08 8:54 AM In reply to: Should I download Windows Vista SP1 patch? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If you have a computer that is already running Vista you will have no problem with this patch and I have found no problems with SP1. You can remove it through system restore but this is unnecessary I highly recommend this update it is very stable and corrects problems in Vista
Wish I could say the same!
by pelinor - 8/23/08 7:12 AM In reply to: Update to sp1 by jico62I had no problems updatic my Dell desktop, but my HP laptop has not been able to run the SP1 patch. I have gone to the mfg website to check for updates and have implemented them. Unfortunately, my laptop does the "Windows has found a critical error and will reboot....." which it does over and over again. This has made it necessary for me to remove the SP1 to use my laptop! Any ideas?
Vista SP1 upgrade
by rkinne01 - 8/16/08 10:41 AM In reply to: Should I download Windows Vista SP1 patch? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Great question! You really should apply SP1 to Vista, the benefits far outweigh the risks. SP1 will increase system performance, speed up file transfers, and tweak other features. If you're nervous about installing just make sure you set a system restore point before you install, that way if you don't like the changes you can revert back. Remember that most of what is on this service pack are merely updates you already have from Windows Update. Another reason to update is too make sure you are able to get all future updates some of which require you to have SP1 installed.
SP1 has been out for awhile, any install issues have been resolved. Set a system restore point or do a system back up just in case, but should have zero problems. One word of warning though, the upgrade can take awhile to set up so male sure you have plenty of time to install it if you choose to do so. Also SP1 may require restarts so make sure you have any unfinished work saved.
windows vista sp1 patch?
by squeekiebug - 8/16/08 1:50 PM In reply to: Should I download Windows Vista SP1 patch? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
i would strongly recomend doing it. i downloaded the patch to my desktop and it seemed to make a big difference in performance. if windows says do it, you should, they want your computer to work as best as it can. there patches also fix problems that come up, good luck, whatever you do. squeekiebug
Download IT!
by FreeWareManZ - 8/16/08 2:36 PM In reply to: Should I download Windows Vista SP1 patch? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
i have a dell with home premium SP1 will not kill your computer if it goes wrong, so... why not download it.
The worst it can do is not work and make you restart, and if it does work you just made your computer better. so in conclusion...
DOWNLOAD SP1 NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From,
FreeWareManZ
I need HEEELLP!
by medineliburak - 8/16/08 5:34 PM In reply to: Should I download Windows Vista SP1 patch? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I'm Burak from Türkiye;
I have a problem with my harddisk space 
now 43.9 GB is free but its gettin smaller per day :S
norton & kaspersky couldn't find the problem
please tell me what should I do about this
to Dear receiver :P
Dear Losing Hard Drive Space - NEVER HEARD OF THIS BEFORE
by GEO2003 - 8/16/08 8:29 PM In reply to: I need HEEELLP! by medineliburakHere are my suggestions:
1-Windows by default sets the Recycle Bin and Restore Points available space to the max. Even if you are deleting things, they still being held on the Recycle Bin.
Right click on the Recyble bin, select properties, and set the space available to your liking, I set my to 10MB for all drives/partions, anything above this will be immediately erase. I set it to 10MB just in case I delete something by accident so long as it not bigger it will still be there for recovery.
Click on start menu, look for DISK CLEANUP, run it, selec your disk or disks and partions, it will search your hard drive, when it finishes a windows will open, the FIRST TAB CLEANUP, will present your with a list of files that can be deleted, if you select one at a time, a description of the files will provided to you at the bottom of the windows, you make your decisions based on this info. The SECOND TAB - MORE OPTIONS, gives you two options, select the one under the heading RESTORE POINTS AND SHADOW COPIES, click on CLEANUP, the question, are you sure you want to delete older copies of Restore points appears, click yes.
When you Finish all this close the windows.
NOW YOUR BROWSER - Launch your browser, can only give you instructions for IE, Select TOOLS, from the Menu, select INTERNET OPTIONS, a new windows appears, the first tab labeled GENERAL, under the heading Browsing History, select settings, CHECK FOR NEWER PAGES should be AUTO, Amount of DISK SPACE TO USE, I set it to the MINIMUM which is 8MB. At the Bottom, AMOUNT OF DAYS TO KEEP PAGES IN HISTORY, set it to ZERO.
CLICK OK, back to the GENERAL tab, again under browsing history select delete, select delete all, select, delete files and settings set by other add-ons. click OK, let it finish.
Now go to the last tab, select ADVANCE, scroll down to the bottom, under the heading SECURITY, select the box - Delete all files when browser is closed. CLICK OK, closed the window.
Are you register for RSS feeds, sometimes when you register for RSS feeds, some browsers auto check for new feeds and they may be store on your TEMP folder without you noticing this, specially if AUTO RSS FEEDS are downloaded on a daily basis.
Download CCleaner from Cnet, Read about it at Cnet and Piriform the publisher, set the settings to your liking and scan, you will still see a whole bunch of temp files listed, Ccleaner does a better job then IE at cleaning because it looks for files in other TEMP folders on your HARD DRIVE, did you know that you have more then one TEMP folder ? Clean all the files left with CCleaner.
CCleaner can also be used to clean your register, back up everything, although in 3 years of using it, I have never had a problem with the application deleting an important file that windows needs.
It will prompt you to back up the register before any changes are made. Remember where you store the back up files.
Don't worry is safe but as with any other application back up your important files just in case.
If this solves your problem great, if not you may be running into HARD DRIVE problems.
Windows keeps a Master File Table, it points the operating system to where the files are store on the hard drive.
If the file table has been corrupted by a virus or rootkit, I don't know if the antivirus you mentioned have a rootkit detection module, but you can find one for free at cnet, and other major vendors of antivirus programs. Download one, and run it. if it finds nothing run it again in safe mode by rebooting the pc and pressing and holding the F8 key, select SAFE MODE ONLY, without networking unless the antirootkit needs access to the internet.
If it finds nothing - Windows also keeps track of the corrupted clusters on a hard drive, if your hard drive is failing, windows may be marking portions of the hard drive as unusable, it tries to move the files to a new location, as the hard drive deteriorates the size will be less and less depending on how windows is re-allocating the stored programs.
Run CHKDISK, the system will reboot, let do its thing.
I tried this on someone else's machine that was so corrupted the process took over 3 hours and at the end the MFT was so bad that I had no choice but to reformat the drive and re-install windows.
The corruption occurs mostly do to an infection of the MFT which is very hard for antivirus to detect, rootkits hiding in the MFT are also hard to detect with regular antivirus.
IF all the above fails,
There is only one more options I can sugest,
Go to GRC.COM, buy they utility SPINRITE is cheap, this utility goes back to the late eighties, believe it or not it was and continues to be a great utility for restoring old drives.
How does it work - IT DOES A LOW LEVEL FORMATING OF EACH CLUSTER OF YOUR HARD DRIVE. It takes the bits of info out, places it on a good cluste/sector, formats the old cluster/sector, and repositions the bits of info back into the new reformated cluster/sector.
Because it actually moves the data, it is actually called NON-DESTRUCTIVE LOW LEVEL FORMATING, preserving all your data.
It also re-aligns the heads and the platters on the hard drive to restore the efficincy or retriving and storing data on the platers.
Its not free but it is cheaper then a new hard drive.
In the process, if it can't read and write and reformat the old cluster/sector, it marks it as bad so that the operating system will know this info too. Of course this will mean that you may end up not restoring the lost space.
Then again if you don't mind spending the time, you could just buy a new hard drive to replace the old one.
Good Luk.
Vista SP1 update
by Ron Geiken - 8/16/08 5:41 PM In reply to: Should I download Windows Vista SP1 patch? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have installed it on both my desktop and laptop and things worked perfectly after the installs. I did the lap top first just in case, and then made sure there were no adverse affects. I then installed it on my desktop and that worked fine too. It is all a little scary to perform a large update like this, but when I installed SP2 on my XP computer several years ago that went fine too. Don't worry about Vista, it is working really good as of August 2008. Good Luck!!!!
RE: Vista SP1 on your Pavillion.
by blyons41 - 8/16/08 8:34 PM In reply to: Should I download Windows Vista SP1 patch? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The 1st thing I would do is contact HP and ask if there are any issues with her particular Desktop and hardware and also whether her PC is up to date on all patches. That should help her make her decision easier. I have all 4 of my PC's updated to SP1 for Vista and SP3 for XP. (I DualBoot all my PC's except my laptop)
SP1 patch for Visa Home premium on HP Pavillion
by Sober0782 - 8/16/08 10:47 PM In reply to: Should I download Windows Vista SP1 patch? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Mary I also have a HP Pavillion a6130n with Vista home Premium and it is the first pre built comptuter I have ever owned. Most of he HP stuff does not work like HP advisor and system information also system restore does not work either. I will never by another HP computer. Having said that, I installed SP1 with no problems at all. I have had no negitive effects from the patch and it supposedly fixes a lot of security issues. Hope this helps.
IN REPLY TO SP1 PATCH FOR VISTA HOME PREMIUM ON HP PAVILLION
by mkrock - 8/23/08 8:05 AM In reply to: SP1 patch for Visa Home premium on HP Pavillion by Sober0782I just had a visit from my cousin who has been a professional tech specialist for some 30 years and he happened to stop in while I was in this forum and he read your post. He said it sounds like your User Account Control, the one you sign in with in Vista, has been corrupted. He said if you create a new User Account and sign in with that account only, your pc will act like it's brand new again. You do not have to delete the old user account, it will still remain on your pc and will cause no harm, it will only take up a bit of space. In other words he is saying that by making a new user account, the problems with the original user account won't be transferred to the new user account. After you have created the new user account, you will be able to go to HP advisor and system restore with no problems.
Thank you I will try that
by Sober0782 - 8/23/08 10:37 AM In reply to: IN REPLY TO SP1 PATCH FOR VISTA HOME PREMIUM ON HP PAVILLION by mkrockIt must have been corrupted right from the factory I spent many HOURs with HPs support not one of them suggested that it might be corrupted. Thank you for the information. Ed
IN REPLY TO: THANK YOU I WILL TRY THAT
by mkrock - 8/23/08 2:43 PM In reply to: Thank you I will try that by Sober0782Here are the steps to create a new user account.
1. Go to the start button, in the search area type is "User Account"
that should bring up a folder with that name... click on it
2. A window with the name of "User accounts and family safety" should
appear
3. In that window click "create a new account"... if that doesn't show
then click on "Manage another account" that will bring up a window
that says "choose the account you would like to change" but further
down it says "create a new account"...click on that
4. That will bring up a window that says "Name the account and choose
an account type." Here you give the new user account a name and you
choose whether the account is a Standard account or an
Administrator account. Suggestion: create a new user account with
Administrator privleges... what this will do, is if you only use
this new Administrator account to sign in and not the old user
account, it will allow you to do downloads in this account. If you
choose to make the new user account a Standard account and if you
are in that account and want to do a download, then permission will
be denied. In other words, make the new user account an
Adminstrator account and you will be able to have complete control
of your pc... for downloads, changes, etc.
After you have created a new user account, everytime you turn on your pc, you will see the old and the new user account icons, and you just click on the new user account. Keep in mind that your documents, and some downloads will not be transfered to the new user account. But don't fret, you can copy and paste anything from your old user account to your new user account.
Now I am going under the assumption that you have Vista, if I am incorrect, then none of this matters. If you do have Vista and want to try making a new user account and you succeed, and then need assistance in transferring any documents or programs over to the new user account, then just post back to this message, and I will return and give you instructions on how to do that.
Another option if you have Vista...if you still have your warranty, then you can call your pc manufacturer and tell them you want them to walk you through making a new user account and then also help you with transferring documents, programs, etc to the new user account.
This is an extremely easy thing to do... even a novice can create new user accounts because of their original accounts being corrupted.
Not to bash any tech support you may have had try to help you, but tech supports come in all degrees. Some have a lot of experience, some do not. My personal experience with tech support people is this, if they have never heard of my problem, then get another tech support person who has... other wise your wasting your time, and this person may cause new problems... said from experience. Then you may get a tech support person who seems like they know what they are doing, and they leave you with the impression that they have helped you correct your problem, and the next time you turn off, then on, your pc you still find problems. Do not hesitate to call them back. At one time on my old pc, I spend 21 hours over a 2 day period, talking to a total of 12 tech support persons: 2 Microsoft technicians (neither new anything), 4 HP technicians (who tried very hard to help, but in the end it was myself who found and fixed the problem), and a total of 6 MSN technicians (who found the original problem but created a new problems) Be persistant... at one time MSN told me they would not give me a tech support person to talk to because I was asking how to make a change to the operating system. I got very loud and demanding, and got louder than the person denying me services, and after a 25 minute put on hold, I got the best technician I ever spoke to. As much as I hate anyone having to become loud and demanding, sometimes it is the only way to get your point across. You have paid for their services, keep calling them until they fix it.
HP computers
by marmard - 8/25/08 7:56 AM In reply to: SP1 patch for Visa Home premium on HP Pavillion by Sober0782I have owned HP computers for the last 15 years, from Desktops to Laptops, and never had any problems with them. I had to use my work laptop for a few weeks, a Toshiba, and it drove me crazy. It was slow, and WiFi was a hassle. I think you just got a lemon, if it is less than a year old, try contacting HP. Their support team is great, just try to listen carefully to understand them because of the accent.
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