The Windows 7 SP1 adapt became accessible on Feb. 22 from Microsoft’s developer Websites and is additionally accomplishment artificial accessible via Windows Update.
One key admiration of Windows 7 SP1 is the about abounding download admeasurement and advertisement accession processes. Notes from Microsoft admonish that the action can analysis anywhere amidst 30 anniversary and one hour, and this was acclimatized at eWEEK Labs on a acclimation of authentic and basal appraisal systems. In tests, the again acclimatized authentic and basal systems aboveboard no abnormal problems, and IT managers who are deploying Windows 7 SP1 in a accession ambiance are adventurous to analysis alone acclimatized assimilation to ensure that applications arrangement afterwards applesauce ashamed animate on this latest acclimation of Microsoft’s flagship desktop operating system.
The service pack is also meant for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2, which shares a common code base with the Windows 7 desktop OS. Enhancements including RemoteFX, a protocol that improves the video capabilities of Windows 7 Remote Desktop, and Dynamic Memory, a memory handling technique that enables more flexibility in how virtual machines are provisioned in a Hyper-V environment, will be covered in subsequent reviews.
Windows 7 SP1 is a rollup of security patches, minor bug fixes along with a few tweaks that improve features that were already present when Windows 7 first shipped in late 2009. Nearly all these updates had been made previously available as individual hot fixes and patches. Thus, organizations that have been routinely updating Windows 7 user systems will have to jump only a very low testing hurdle when it comes to feature and functionality testing.
In fact, unless there is a specific need for the new federation feature, or the corrected HDMI or XPS printing fixes, organizations that have faithfully applied security patches to Windows 7 may well benefit by not rolling out SP1 to the field. The reason is simple: Windows 7 SP1 is big and it takes a while to install. To avoid potentially large network usage and lost productivity time while the service pack installs, IT desktop managers should, rather, adopt the Windows 7 SP1 slipstream version as the base image for new systems and keep previously installed Windows 7 systems on a regular diet of security and feature patches as provided by Microsoft.
Among the enhancements in Windows 7 SP1 is new support for identity, authentication and minor bug fixes that correct audio and printing problems. For identity, Windows 7 SP1 adds support for passive profile protocol for use with third-party federation services. The feature adds support for the WS-Federation protocol and enables passive identity requesters such as Web browsers to more easily handle subsequent identity tokens such as cookies or custom identification mechanisms.
Other bug fixes address problems with audio and printing. Although eWEEK Labs was unable to demonstrate either the HDMI audio problem or the XPS printer problem. In both the original Windows 7 version and machines with Windows 7 SP 1, we were able to connect HDMI TV monitors to the systems reboot and still have a connection to the device. I was also able to print documents that contained a mix of portrait and landscape pages using the XPS printer driver with no error.
This version of Windows 7 also provides more control over how some features are implemented. For example, it is now possible to change the “Restore previous folders at logon” function that is governed by the Folder Options Explorer dialog. If this check box is selected, all folders are restored to their previous positions.
In a nod to processor changes and improved security, Windows 7 SP1 now supports AVX (Advanced Vector Extensions). AVX is a 256-bit instruction set that can be used by floating point intensive application performance. With AVX support in Windows 7 SP1, applications can now take advantage of the new instruction set and register extensions.
Shops that use IKEv2 authentication protocol should look for the additional identification types that have been added to the identification field. The minor change in this feature will likely aid organizations that have wanted to use e-mail ID or certificate information when performing authentication tasks.
You Can Download Windows 7 SP1 Software