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Four Must-Have Vista Updates

by Kiven on September 3rd, 2007

If you’re running Windows Vista, you need to open up your favorite web browser and install these four updates pronto!. Many of the fixes that we’ve been asking Microsoft to include in the inevitable Service Pack 1 can be found here, and guess what? they actually improve the performance/stability and compatibility of Windows Vista

First up is KB938194. This “Compatibility and Reliability” update features a host of improvements, including fixes for these issues:

• The screen may go blank when you try to upgrade the video driver.
• The computer stops responding, and you receive a “Display driver stopped responding and has recovered” error message.
• The computer stops responding or restarts unexpectedly when you play video games or perform desktop operations.
• The Diagnostic Policy Service (DPS) stops responding when the computer is under heavy load or when very little memory is available. This problem prevents diagnostics from working.
• The screen goes blank after an external display device that is connected to the computer is turned off.
• There are stability issues with some graphics processing units (GPUs). These issues could cause GPUs to stop responding (hang).
• Visual appearance issues occur when you play graphics-intensive games.
• You experience poor playback quality when you play HD DVD disks or Blu-ray disks on a large monitor.
• Applications that load the Netcfgx.dll component exit unexpectedly.
• Windows Calendar exits unexpectedly after you create a new appointment, create a new task, and then restart the computer.
• Internet Connection Sharing stops responding after you upgrade a computer that is running Microsoft Windows XP to Windows Vista and then restart the computer.
• The Printer Spooler service stops unexpectedly.
• You receive a “Stop 0×0000009F” error when you put the computer to sleep while a Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) connection is active.

Next, and perhaps more importantly, is the KB938979 update, for “Performance and Reliability.” Updates include fixes for these problems:

* You experience a long delay when you try to exit the Photos screen saver.
* A memory leak occurs when you use the Windows Energy screen saver.
* If User Account Control is disabled on the computer, you cannot install a network printer successfully.
* When you write data to an AVI file by using the AVIStreamWrite function, the file header of the AVI file is corrupted.
* When you copy or move a large file, the “estimated time remaining” takes a long time to be calculated and displayed.
* After you resume the computer from hibernation, it takes a long time to display the logon screen.
* When you synchronize an offline file to a server, the offline file is corrupted.
* If you edit an image file that uses the RAW image format, data loss occurs in the image file. This problem occurs if the RAW image is from the Canon EOS 1D and 1DS models.
* After you resume the computer from hibernation, the computer loses its default gateway address.
* Poor memory management performance occurs.

That last one is rather vague (what else is new), but anything that improves Vista’s memory management is a welcome development.

Those aren’t the only two major fixes, though. A pair of graphics-related updates, not available through Windows Update, are worth grabbing, as well. More from PC Magazine

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POSTED IN: Windows Patches, Windows Vista