When Microsoft released Vista, their slogan for the new program was, "The Wow is Now," or something like that.

Their ad campaign was not incorrect, over and over we have heard people say, "Wow!"

As in, "Wow! This is slower than my Windows 98 system."

Most major software titles come in several generations. There is the initial program then, over time, major updates called service packs are released to fix bugs and add new features that were requested by the initial adopters.

Microsoft has released a beta (or test) version of Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Vista and all I can say is, "Wow!"

While I haven’t personally installed the update, I have been reading blogs and reviews from users who have.

Did Microsoft work on the response time of Vista? Not really.

Did Microsoft add any more "Classic" view options for those having a tough time navigating Vista? No, but they did remove the Search button from the START orb.

Did they make custom networking easier to setup?No, that’s not a part of this service pack.

Did they add an area that allows you to turn off annoying vista features easily? No.

What did they add then?

Well, that’s easy. After installing Vista SP1 you will finally be able to defragment drives other than C:. See, you just said, "Wow!" didn’t you?

How about this major upgrade. Whenever you hit CTRL+ALT+DEL the window asking if you want to go into the task manager comes up quicker. "Wow!" that will save several minutes per year off our lives collectively.

Now, here’s the biggie (drumroll please).

You can now customize the Windows BitLocker encryption system to encrypt certain drives. But, only if you are a Windows Ultimate or Enterprise edition user. Was that another, "Wow!" I just heard?

You can read more about how Microsoft is "selling" this new service pack on the Windows Experience Blog.

Related articles:

1. Vista Service Pack 1 – Don’t do it….yet
2. Windows XP Service Pack 3
3. Windows XP reset loop reboots after installing Service Pack 3
4. Why no one is holding their breath for Windows Vista
5. Demand compensation from Microsoft

Tags: customize, Microsoft, remove, review, update, upgrade, Windows

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 at 10:19 am and is filed under Riding Shotgun with Adam. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.