Fix Windows Vista Errors

Microsoft has revealed details of the changes to its Vista operating system that should come through in Service Pack 1, which is currently in beta form.

In a detailed document, Microsoft promised significant efficiency improvements. In a tacit admission that Vista, as it stands, is not efficient enough when copying files, Microsoft promised to cut the time spent copying files on a single machine by a quarter, and the time taken to copy from one Service Pack 1 (SP1) machine to another by half.

Microsoft touted scores of additions, improvements and enhancements to Vista in areas ranging from hardware support and reliability to security and synchronization with the also-upcoming Windows Server 2008.

Microsoft also issued critical updates to fix at least two different problems with the way Windows handles the processing and display of various video and audio files.

The first of those is a serious vulnerability in the “Windows media file format” — chiefly, files that end in “.asf” and “.wmv” — used principally by the Windows Media Player software bundled with the operating system.

Another patch addresses a critical flaw in most versions of “DirectX,” a Windows component that handles the display of a variety of video file formats (files that end in “.wav” and “.avi” for example). Again, these are especially dangerous flaws because they can be exploited merely by getting users to view maliciously crafted video files via a Web browser or e-mail.

Microsoft Corp. posted a tool to its download site today that will block automatic installations of several upcoming service packs, including Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP SP3.

The download includes three versions of the tool — an executable, a script and a group policy template — that prevents the service packs from reaching PCs via Windows Update, Microsoft’s default update service.

The tool blocks Windows Vista SP1, Windows XP SP3 and Windows Server 2003 SP2 for varying lengths of time. Vista SP1 and XP SP3 can be blocked for as long as 12 months after the service packs are released in final form, while the Server 2003 SP2 blocker bars the download only through March 2008.