This is the first time Microsoft has packaged one download that applies to both client and server editions of the Operating Systems. Like always the company asks the users not to try out the beta.

The CPP(customer preview program) is intended for technology enthusiasts, developers, and IT pros who would like to test Service Pack 2 in their environments and with their applications prior to final release,” Nash said. “For most customers, our best advice would be to wait until the final release prior to installing this service pack.

Microsoft has not set the delivery date for Vista SP2 and Server 2008 SP2, but we had heard earlier that a Release Candidate will be released in February and the final version would appear in April 2009.

The Size of the Vista SP2 will be about 41MB for the 32-bit version and 60MB for the 64-bit version. The Size for Windows Server 2008 will be 47MB and 90MB for 32-bit and 64-bit editions respectively.

Complaints are pouring in on the latest Vista Service Pack 1, which is said to fix 551 bugs in the Windows Vista. People are complaining about slow shutdown times, the infamous “blue screen of death”, sidebar loading problems, remote assistance problems and several others related to drivers and performance on windowsvistablog. Even the tech guys at the University of Pennsylvania advised the staff and students to stay off the Vista SP1 update.

Major software patches are known to cause problems on the first release, Windows XP SP1 caused numerous problems when it was first shipped in 2002. On the other side of the River, some people reported fast file transfers, fast network speeds, heavy applications such as Adobe Photoshop CS3 running smoothly. It is recommended to follow a “wait and see” approach on Vista SP1, However, if you are willing to update to Vista SP1, see that your system has at least dual-core or hyperthreading processor with a minimum of 1.5 GB RAM.

Are you getting lots of “Out of Memory” Errors in Windows Vista. That’s because the way the operating system manages virtual memory. In Vista applications have their own private address space. On 32 bit platforms, applications are generally limited to 2GB as their maximum size of virtual memory. Theses out of memory errors are caused when all the virtual space allocated to applications are used up.

Microsoft issued patches to address this problem. These patches doesn’t solve the problem entirely, but they change the way the allocations are made.

Download patch for 32 bit Vista

Download patch for 64 bit Vista

Gamers can register online to receive a “retrofit”. More info Here

Retrofit Form

Features:

1. 500 MB of free online storage, available from any computer with Internet access.
2. Create personal, shared, and public folders — you decide who has access to each folder.
3. Windows Live SkyDrive works well on any Windows or Macintosh computer with Firefox 1.5 or higher, or Internet Explorer 6 or higher.

File Protection:

1. Your personal folders are password-protected with your Windows Live ID, so only you have access.
2. When you create a shared folder, the friends you’re sharing with need to sign in with their own Windows Live ID and password.
3. Just like at your online bank, all file transfers are protected using Secure Socket Layers (SSL).

Its still in beta, hope they increase the storage.

“Just when you were wondering how you’d ever fill up 2 or 4 GB of mail, we’ve given you more storage,” wrote Ellie Powers-Boyle, a program manager for Windows Live Hotmail.

Microsoft’s new limit will leap frog all the other E-mail service provider with a whopping 3GB, except AOL which is already providing unlimited storage.

Microsoft said hotmail will also get faster in the coming weeks. E-mail users will also see a new report phishing button and a way to combine duplicate contacts in the address book.

When hotmail users log in, they see a page filled with news headlines from MSN sites. After the upgrade microsoft lets users to go straight into inbox.

You can read the blog entry Here

STEP 1: Plug in your USB flash drive and choose “Speed up my system”. Vista OS then checks for its performance.


STEP 2: Set the amount of space to be used for readyboost, you can use the remainder for storing files.

STEP 3: DONE !!