Top Six Tips Before you Install Vista SP1
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SP1 for Vista is officially out now. There have been issues with the install reported, as can happen when you update anything. Goretsky sent these tips in, to hopefully help you bypass any troubles.
- Before making any major changes to your system, it is always a good idea to back up your valuable data files. Vista includes a backup utility you can access by clicking on the Start Orb and typing “backup” into the Search field, or by using a Vista-compatible backup program such as Acronis True Image, NovaStor’s Novaback or Symantec Ghost.
- Download and install the latest device drivers for your computer’s hardware. Device drivers are small programs that allows your computer’s hardware to talk with the operating system. When a service pack is released, Microsoft sometimes makes small changes to the operating systems that can cause some device drivers to perform slowly or not work very well. Check with your computer manufacturer or hardware vendor to see if any of the following have updated device drivers:
- hard disk drive controller (especially SATA or SCSI)
- fingerprint reader (very important if you use one)
- network interface card
- motherboard chipset
- sound card
- video card
Also, if you have an OEM-branded computer from a company like Dell, check with them to see if they have any prerequisites for installing the service pack.
- Any software which interacts with Vista at low level may need an update as well. Examples of software that might need to be updated include backup, CD/DVD creation software, disk defragmentation and security software such as Anti-Malware and firewalls. Be sure to check with the authors of these to verify compatibility with Service Pack 1.
- Check your hard disk drive for errors before installing the Service Pack. To do so, double-click on the Computer icon on your Desktop to view the hard disk drive, right-click on it to make the context menu pop up, and select Properties to open the properties window for the hard disk drive. The command to check the hard disk drive for errors is located on the Tools tab.
- Defragment your hard disk drive before installing Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista. Installing a service pack can be a lengthy and disk- intensive process, as the service pack updates the all of the files which make up the operating system. Defragmenting the hard disk drive reorders the files on the hard disk drive which can speed up access to them.
- If you do need to disable your security software before installing Service Pack 1, remember to re-enable after the service pack is finished.
- Remember, it may take some time for the service pack to finish installing, especially if you have an older computer or many files on yours. Be patient, as it may take several hours to complete.
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