Just a quick update for this evening.
The rumour mills are in full swing with reports of the first service pack for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 will be released very soon. Furthermore, there have been leaked copies of pre-release builds of the unified service pack floating around on the web. As a rule of thumb you should only install updates through Windows Update or if downloaded directly from the Microsoft website.
For the common person a service pack may look just like a huge update and in most cases this is true. Traditionally, Microsoft have used service packs to roll up all previously released bug fixes and patches to make it easier for system administrators and consumers to update their computers. On occasion, major new features are also released such as the Windows Firewall that appeared in Windows XP Service Pack 2 or deliver significant performance improvements as was the case with Windows Vista Service Pack 1.
As far as Windows 7 is concerned no new features are being implemented in the first service pack so it is very much a consolidation of all prior released security fixes. When it is released you can expect the installation to take a while depending upon the power of your computer (anywhere upwards of thirty minutes) and is generally a process that should be uninterrupted so as to avoid anything adverse from occurring. A convenient time to kick it off may be when you aren’t going to use your computer for a while such as when you are leaving to go to work or go to sleep.
So when Windows 7 Service Pack 1 does come out don’t be scared of it but be prepared for a little bit of a wait.
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