Fix PC Errors

Microsoft today announced that Service Pack 1 (SP1) of Windows Vista has been released to manufacturing.  Eagerly anticipated by Vista aficionados around the world, SP1 will be initially available in five languages—English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese.

Users will be able to download SP1 beginning in mid-March, as Microsoft is timing its release to coincide with the retail availability of new systems pre-installed with SP1.

Many of the fixes for Vista have already been released as part of regular monthly updates in the year since the operating system went on sale to consumers.

Microsoft has also begun burning Vista SP1 DVDs for distribution to business customers who subscribe to the company’s volume licensing program. New personal computers with Vista SP1 will start showing up in stores “in the coming months,” said Microsoft Windows product manager Mike Nash, in a blog post Monday.

Microsoft will release SP1 to Windows Update and the Microsoft.com download center in mid-March, Nash said.

If “Windows Update determines that the system has one of the drivers we know to be problematic, then Windows Update will not offer SP1,” Nash wrote. “Since we know that some customers may want to update to SP1 anyhow, the download center will allow anyone who wants to install SP1 to do so.”