Windows Search, 84% Faster on Vista SP1 and 26% Faster on XP SP3
Back at the start of June 2008, Microsoft introduced an upgrade for the search infrastructure of its Windows client and Server operating systems.
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20.11.2008 Microsoft Hands out XP SP3 beta Final SP for XP
In an email sent to selected testers telling them they have been accepted to begin testing XP SP3, Microsoft has also informed them that this will be the final Service Pack for the now aging OS.
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5.10.2007 Vista SP 1 Ships in 2008, the First Beta Drops in 2 Weeks!
After a long period of Windows Omerta, in which Microsoft gagged all details related to the future development plans for the Windows platform, the company has come out and confirmed the availability dates for the first beta of Windows Vista SP1, as well as for the final release of the refresh.
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29.8.2007 Vista SP1 RC Leaves XP SP2 in the Dust, but What About XP SP3?
Although Microsoft has indicated a strong disapproval of benchmarking tests involving development milestones of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, the temptation is simply too big to ignore.
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17.1.2008 Microsoft Makes Its Own Vista SP1 vs. XP SP2, Leaves XP SP3 Out
Ever since the advent of Window Vista, at the end of November 2006 for businesses and in January 2007 for the general public, Microsoft has virtually invited the comparison between the two operating systems.
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8.5.2008 Windows 7 on multicore: How much faster?
San Francisco - Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system is receiving raves in its pre-release testing.
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20.10.2009 Rootkits are taking over Windows XP SP2 Machines
According to a recent report on eweek, more than 20% of malware found on machines are stealth rootkits.
Jason Garms, architect and group program manager in Microsoft's Anti-Malware Technology Team, said the open-source FU rootkit ranks high on the list of malicious software programs deleted by Microsoft's monthly Anti-Virus update. The rootkits are being detected and removed from Windows XP (gold) versions but infection rates on XP SP1 and XP SP2 machines are also high.
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7.12.2005 Windows XP SP2 Original genuine x86
Thanks to fattodahill for this download. This is the original genuine version of Windows XP (32-Bit). This version does not requires cracks or genuine hacks!
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2.5.2007 More Free Windows to Keep Vista and XP SP2 Company
Without indicating a strong affinity for the open source business model Microsoft is rather generous with its operating systems.
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1.4.2008 XP Availability Extended Despite Vista SP2 and Windows 7
While it is cooking Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Windows 7, Microsoft has also managed to further extend the availability of Windows XP. With the 32-bit version of Vista's precursor at Service Pack 3, and at SP2 for the 64-bit flavor, Windows XP will now live until June 2009.
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22.12.2008 Speed Test: Windows 7 May Not Be Much Faster Than Vista
Though Windows 7 edged out Vista in our lab tests, you may not notice much of a difference.
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7.5.2009 IE VPC - New Free Editions of Windows XP SP2 Live for Download!
Two new free editions of Windows XP Service Pack 2 are live for download from Microsoft. The offerings are just the latest versions from a series delivered since late 2006, following the release of Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP SP2.
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20.8.2007 Free Windows Vista and XP SP2 Downloads Updated and up for Grabs
This week, Microsoft has updated the set of offerings which permit end users to access free copies of Windows Vista and Windows XP SP2.
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21.3.2008 Vista SP2 and XP SP3 Get Windows 7s AutoPlay-AutoRun
Even before the release of Windows 7 Release Candidate Build 7100 Microsoft announced that it would take extreme measures in order to increase end user protection and amputate the AutoPlay/AutoRun feature of the operating system.
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26.8.2009 Windows Server 2008 is 20% faster than Vista
It seems Microsoft may have a successor (or replacement) for Vista after all and its already been released. Windows Server 2008 isnt easy to configure as a desktop operating system but when done correctly can be 20% faster than Vista while retaining most of the same features.
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12.3.2008 Microsoft Ships Deleted Files with the Free Copies of Windows XP SP2
Despite the fact that Microsoft's business model is in no way similar to that associated with open source software, the Redmond company does offer free copies of its operating systems.
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23.1.2008 Windows XP SP3 Brings the Death of SP2 - July 13, 2010
The advent of Windows XP Service Pack 3 has brought with it the proverbial "beginning of the end" for its predecessor, Service Pack 2.
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19.5.2008 Connect Windows 7 with XP SP3 Vista SP2 via Remote Desktop Connection 7.0
Microsoft is gearing up to release a tool that will permit users of Windows Vista and Windows XP computers to connect to Windows 7 machines, and to take advantage of features that only the latest version of the Windows client brings to the table.
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12.9.2009 Remove Unnecessary Startup Entries To Boot Windows Faster
Sometimes it's very frustrating when your computer is booting up Windows very slowly especially when someone calls you up to check something on your computer, and you need to call back because your computer takes ages to boot.
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5.5.2007 Vista SP1 vs. XP SP2 - Benchmarked
Some people are concerned that in order to get an accurate measurement of boot time the system needs to be booted many times. Let me assure you that the systems here under testing were rebooted more times than most normal PCs are over the course of several months.]
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18.2.2008 Download Windows 7 Remote Desktop Connection 7.0 for XP SP3 and Vista SP1 and SP2
While Windows 7 technologies are, as a general rule, available exclusively with the latest iteration of the Windows client from Microsoft, there also are exceptions.
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4.11.2009 Capture Windows 7 and Vista SP2 Images with ConfigMgr 2007 SP2 Beta
Capturing Windows 7 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 images, but also client assessment, updating and deployment are tasks that can be performed with System Center Configuration Manager 2007.
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15.6.2009 Microsoft: XP SP2 Adoption Lags Overseas
More than a year after Microsoft Corp. shipped Windows XP Service Pack 2 as a massive security-centric OS makeover, customer adoption internationally continues to lag at disappointing levels, according to a senior Redmond executive. Stuart McKee, Microsoft's U.S. National Technology Officer, said the overall install rate of XP SP2 was just shy of 70 percent, but in countries such as Spain and Korea, adoption of the service pack dips into the 50 percent range.
In Japan, Germany and France, the install rate is in the range of 75 percent, McKee said. During a keynote at the Security Summit East here, McKee said Microsoft has so far distributed more than 250 million copies of XP SP2 to provide a hardened shell around the operating system but the low upgrade levels remains a disappointment.
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16.12.2005 Windows 7 20 Features to Make Users Forget Vista SP1/SP2 and XP SP3
Microsoft is currently moving onward with the development of Windows 7, having passed Milestone 3 with the operating system.
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15.11.2008 Windows Vista SP2 and Server 2008 SP2 download
Microsoft has released a standalone installer for Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 today.
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27.5.2009 Vista SP1 up to 86% faster
Is Vista SP1 really the shot in the arm your Vista system needs? We've spent many hours strapped to our benchmarking system in a caffeine and pizza fuelled haze to uncover these very interesting results.
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5.3.2008 Microsoft: Vista SP1 Will Bring Nothing Not a Repeat of XP SP2
The motto for the first service pack for Windows Vista should be if you wait for very little, or even nothing at all, then you won't be disappointed.
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31.8.2007 Microsoft Still Shooting at XP SP2 with the Vista Gun No Kill
Even with the general availability of Vista SP1 and XP SP3, Microsoft is still stuck gunning for Windows XP SP2 with the Windows Vista RTM "arsenal".
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15.5.2008 Download Free Windows Vista and Windows XP SP2 Straight from Microsoft
Via the Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Image. That's right! Microsoft is offering access to free downloads of Windows Vista and Windows XP SP2.
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6.3.2008 Windows Vista SP1 outperforms Windows XP SP2 in file copy
"Its interesting that people seem to think that Vista under performs in every area of the system which is quite an incorrect perception.
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27.5.2008Mary Jo Foley Will Windows Service Pack History Repeat Itself?
Mary Jo Foley: One of my editors at Redmond magazine -- the ever-doubting Ed Scannell -- recently posed an interesting hypothetical question about the
future of Windows. Might Microsoft yank some features planned for Windows 7 and put them into a Windows Vista Service Pack (SP) 2 that would include
not just fixes, but also new features?
In other words: Could Windows history repeat itself, with Vista SP2 taking the form of a
whole new operating system release -- in everything other than name -- a la Windows XP SP2?
Microsoft officials said last year
not to expect Vista SP1 to be anything like XP SP2. Vista SP1 was designed to be a collection of fixes and patches, aimed at improving security,
reliability and performance. But the 'Softies haven't said anything about their thinking in regard to Vista SP2. Might Microsoft use the next Vista
SP to deliver some of the features that otherwise might have to wait for Windows 7, currently slated for 2010?
As tasty as that
option might sound to some, I'd give it a very low likelihood for a few reasons.
winbeta.org -
03.06.2008Windows Vista SP1 outperforms Windows XP SP2 in file copy.
"Its interesting that people seem to think that Vista under performs in every area of the system which is quite an incorrect perception. In this demo
I show how Vista outperforms Windows XP and I show the under the covers process traces of just how it achieves it."
"Demo environment
consists of two images. One Vista SP1 and the other Windows XP SP2 both on the same HDD IO and communicating across my home wireless network to a
Windows Server 2008 box on my main LAN. Once the two images get going latency gets introduced and things start to slow down....except Vista doesnt
slow down." Watch and see at
Edge TechNet.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
27.05.2008Wanted: New information on XP SP3
If Microsoft officials don't
want you to know about Vista
Service Pack (SP) 1, you can
be darn well sure they really
don't want to talk about
Windows XP Service Pack (SP)
3. But customers definitely
want to discuss it.
XP users who still
aren’t crazy about the
idea of moving to Vista are
quite interested in the status
of the long-promised update to
Windows XP. (Microsoft
released the most recent XP
update, XP SP2, way back in
the summer of 2004.) I get
queries from readers weekly
about when XP SP3 will hit and
what it will likely include.
There was a flap
earlier this year regarding
Microsoft
possibly changing the due date
for XP SP3. Microsoft
officials have been saying for
the past few months that the
company would not provide the
final XP SP3 until some time
in the first half of 2008. In
late May, however, there was
a
mention in a Microsoft press
release that XP SP3 would ship
"some time later this
year." Microsoft's
official response was that the
2007 date was a typo. (Yeah,
tha
t "typo" defense again.)
winbeta.org -
19.07.2007Vista SP1 vs. XP SP2 - Part Deux
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: Following the
benchmarks I carried out last week, I
decided that the PC Doc HQ lab rats needed to pull a few all-nighters and carry out some more benchmarking tests on Vista SP1 and XP SP2. Is it
possible to determine conclusively which is the faster, more responsive OS?
One of the main criticisms of my initial benchmark
tests was that I overlooked the fact that, under the hood, Windows Vista SP1 works differently to XP SP2 in the file copy department. The difference
is down to caching and how Vista carried out uncached I/O while XP caches the files. On top of that is the further complication that the file
transfer progress bars are coded to work differently. Vistas file copy dialog box goes away when the cache is committed, while under XP the copy
dialog goes away while the committal is still pending. In other words XP is coded to appear fast...
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18.02.2008Firms need to plan for XP Service Pack 3
Organisations that expect to be running Windows XP in mid-2010 should plan to test and deploy XP SP3, Gartner has advised.
Microsoft is planning to release Windows Vista Service Pack (SP) and Windows XP SP3 will be available in the first half of 2008.
According to Gartner, deploying Windows XP SP3 should be significantly easier than testing and deploying SP2, which many users considered a major
change of the operating system.
Annette Jump, a research director at Gartner, said, "We will probably see a mixture of Vista and
XP SP3 deployments in 2008. Jump believed some businesses would deploy Vista and some could stick with XP, in which case, they would be looking at
installing the SP3 service pack.
winbeta.org -
01.12.2007Implement WPA2-Personal
wireless security on a Windows
XP SP2-based computer
Barb Bowman introduces you to
the latest version of wireless
security???WPA2???and shows
you how to implement it on
your Windows XP SP2???based
computers...
WindowsXP/expertzone -
04.01.2006Getting and Installing Windows
XP Service Pack 2
MVP Charlie Russel has spent
the past month answering
newsgroup questions and
presenting webcasts on SP2. He
offers some tips for a
trouble-free SP2 upgrade...
WindowsXP/expertzone -
04.01.2006Resolving Windows XP
SP2???related application
compatibility problems
Columnist Mitch Tulloch
identifies common Windows XP
SP2???related application
compatibility problems and
identifies ways to resolve
them...
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04.01.2006Remote Desktop Client (RDC) 6.1 now available for XP SP2 users
Nathan Mercer: We have received a lot of feedback from customers about the need for the Remote Desktop Connection client 6.1 to be made available as a
standalone install for Windows XP SP2 to ease deployments of Windows 2008 Terminal Services.
In response to this feedback, we
have released the Remote Desktop Connection client (RDC 6.1) for Windows XP SP2 on x86 platforms.
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26.06.2008Microsoft releases Windows Vista SP2 and Server 2008 SP2
Microsoft has released a standalone installer for Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 today. The software giant posted some things to know
about the service packs last month, one of the warnings is if "vLite" was used to customize your Windows Vista installation, you may have removed
required system components which prevent Service Pack 2 from installing. Microsoft has a workaround for this issue. Microsoft is expected to post the
bits to Windows Update in the coming weeks but if you are eager to install SP2 today then the download links are listed below. Download: Vista
SP2/Server 2008 SP2 32 bit Download: Vista SP2/Server 2008 SP2 64 bit
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
26.05.2009Windows Vista vs Windows XP SP2 Vulnerability Report 2007
Jeff Jones: In the wake of my
Windows Vista One Year
Vulnerability Report, I have received many questions regarding the current vulnerability record of Windows Vista as compares with Windows XP
SP2.
This short paper is a compilation of vulnerability data for Microsoft Windows Vista and Microsoft Windows XP SP2 for
calendar year 2007 and a brief analysis to see if any benefit is apparent for users of one OS over the other.
winbeta.org -
15.05.2008Windows Vista SP1 vs. Windows Vista RTM vs. Windows XP SP2
Principled Technologies has released two Microsoft commissioned reports on Windows Vista SP1 performance. In these tests, Principled Technologies
measured responsiveness of Windows Vista SP1 vs. Windows Vista RTM vs. Windows XP SP2 when performing a set of common business and home tasks. The
results show that SP1 performs on par with Vista RTM and Windows XP.
The test show that as with Windows Vista RTM, overall performance is
on par with Windows XP. It’s important to remember that Windows Vista is a more advanced operating system, which includes many more capabilities
than Windows XP. By default, Windows Vista includes antispyware, a search indexer, and the shadow copy service. All these work in the background,
providing important services to customers, but they of course take up a portion of the PCs memory and processor resource.
On several common
business and home operations Windows Vista SP1 was noticeably more responsive after rebooting than Windows XP.
neowin.net -
28.02.2008Microsoft Details Sever 2003
SP2 Plans
With beta testing underway for
Windows Service 2003 Service
Pack 2, which also is designed
for Windows XP x64 edition,
Microsoft is providing a bit
more details about the
impending upgrade. Windows
Server program manager Ward
Ralston says SP2 will be much
less painful than SP1...
betanews.com -
03.08.2006XP SP3: TechNet and MSDN subscribers to get beta in two weeks
Microsoft provided an update on the timing for Windows XP Service Pack (SP) 3 on August 29.
Company officials said on Wednesday
that the Windows team plans to deliver a near-public beta of XP SP3 (its going to all TechNet and Microsoft Developer Network subscribers) by
mid-September.
The final version of XP SP3 is slated to hit some time in the first half of calendar 2008, officials said. (Thats
the same date the Softies have been promising officially for a while now. Microsoft wont be any more specific on XP SP3 timing.)
Company officials did not release a feature set for XP SP3 on August 29. The only new piece of information available was the public-beta due
date.
Microsoft made available to a set of private testers a preview of XP SP3 earlier in August. I saw an alleged fix list at
that time: It consisted of nearly 1,000 items.
The last time Microsoft provided a cumulative update to Windows XP was in 2004,
when it released XP SP2.
winbeta.org -
29.08.2007Exploits hot on the heels of Microsoft's patches
Exploits appeared
within hours for two of the
bugs that Microsoft Corp.
fixed yesterday.
Microsoft's June set of
security updates patched 15
separate vulnerabilities, nine
of them labeled "critical,"
the company's most serious
threat rating. Exploit code
for two of the bugs -- one in
Internet Explorer (IE), the
other in Windows XP, Windows
2000 and Windows Server 2003
-- have been posted to the
Bugtraq and Full-disclosure
mailing lists by researchers.
A. Micalizzi went
public with a pair of exploits
-- one successful against
Windows 2000, the other
against Windows XP -- that
leverage one of the six IE
bugs patched yesterday. A bug
-- actually two because both
the ActiveListen and
ActiveVoice ActiveX controls
are flawed -- was tagged
"critical" in IE6 on Windows
2000 and Windows XP SP2, and
"critical" in IE7 on both XP
SP2 and Windows Vista.
ActiveListen and ActiveVoice
provide speech processing and
text-to-speech to the browser.
..
winbeta.org -
14.06.2007Microsoft Steers Firefox Users Wrong On XP SP1
Microsoft, which will end
support of Windows XP SP1 in
less than two weeks,
incorrectly flags users
running Mozilla's Firefox
browser that they need to
update when they visit the
Windows Web site.
The Redmond, Wash. developer
has warned users of the
four-year-old Windows XP
Service Pack 1 (SP1) several
times that it will stop all
support for the operating
system Oct.10, the next
regularly-scheduled patch
date. It has repeatedly
recommended that users update
to Windows XP SP2, which can
be downloaded free of charge
from the company's Web site.
On that Web site, however,
users running Windows XP SP2
and Firefox are incorrectly
told that their PCs must be
upgraded. Internet Explorer
users, on the other hand, are
given the correct
information.
"Your
computer is not up to date
with the latest version of
Windows XP. Upgrade to Windows
XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) today
to help keep your computer
secure," the site tells
Firefox users. IE users,
however, are shown a different
message: "Your computer has
already been upgraded to
Windows XP Service Pack 2
(SP2)."
neowin.net -
30.09.2006Informal Windows Vista SP1 vs XP SP2 Performance Tests
Mikael at the Futuremark Forums ran a few benchmarks of Windows Vista SP1 (presumably the latest RC Refresh) vs. XP SP2 with some surprising results.
It seems that having 8GB RAM with SuperFetch enabled doesn't hurt...
I just reinstalled Vista Home Premium 64-bit and thought
I'd run some tests. These are just a bunch of quick benches I did to satisfy my own curiosity, but I thought I'd share them with you guys. The test
config is as follows:
Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 3.2GHz (8*400)
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3
8GB DDR2-800 4-5-4-15
GeForce 8800GT 512MB (stock)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB <--- Vista Home Premium 64-bit SP1
Samsung SpinPoint T166 320GB
<--- Windows XP Professional SP2
Some excerpts from the conclusion:
- The general usage tests are either
faster or equal to XP. However, Vista is on the slower drive (the WD), so it only makes the results even more impressive.
- Crysis was almost
certainly not cached into RAM during the test, but still loaded faster than in XP.
- The horrendous file copy performance has been fixed.
Performance is definitely higher than in XP. Also gone is the sometimes irritatingly long file delete times. File deletion seems instantaneous now,
just like it's always been in XP.
- Crysis: Performance is down 5-8% when looking at DX9 32/64-bit benches and DX10 is even worse off. The CPU
test is also curious with a WinXP performance lead of 15%! This was definitely unexpected and something that would be interesting to research further.
- Loading the image for the Photoshop test was about twice as fast in Vista compared to XP and it was the first time that file was loaded so it
couldn't have been cached.
- Gaming performance is still a let-down and it seems we'll have to live with it.
- SuperFetch has a very
large impact on program load times.
winbeta.org -
17.01.2008Get Windows XP Free Virtually,
With a Catch
Microsoft is providing a free
virtualized copy of Windows XP
SP2 to assist developers in
migrating IE6 applications to
IE7. However, it will only
work until April 1, 2007...
betanews.com -
04.12.2006Microsoft Details Server 2003
SP2 Plans
With beta testing underway for
Windows Service 2003 Service
Pack 2, which also is designed
for Windows XP x64 edition,
Microsoft is providing a bit
more details about the
impending upgrade. Windows
Server program manager Ward
Ralston says SP2 will be much
less painful than SP1...
betanews.com -
03.08.2006Windows XP Service Pack 2 and
Gaming Performance Benchmarks
Columnist Joel Durham ran a
series of benchmarks comparing
gaming performance on a system
running Windows XP SP1 to one
running Windows XP SP2...
WindowsXP/expertzone -
04.01.2006
