Lister Windows Vista SP1

Windows Vista Service Pack1

Microsoft has put automatic updates of Vista on hold after finding compatibility problems with a piece of business software.

The problem occurred with customers who are running Vista with Service Pack 1 installed and are using the Dynamics RMS package. Microsoft isn’t going to restart the automatic update process until they’ve figured out a filter to work out which Vista users are running the Dynamics software.

The package allows companies to automate everything from cash registers to buying supplies. It’s used in around 38,000 stores and its most famous customer is the Dallas Cowboys, who use it to manage their merchandising.

Obviously the problem had to be fairly serious to completely freeze all updates. But Microsoft couldn’t take any chances as the incompatibility problem ran the risk of causing data loss in the Dynamics package, which would be potentially disastrous for customers.

The firm says anyone using both the Service Pack 1 edition of Vista and the Dynamics RMS package should contact Microsoft’s Customer Support Service for further advice. The web address is http://support.microsoft.com

The problem also affects XP users and delayed the release of Service Pack 3, the third (and almost certainly final) major update before XP is withdrawn this summer.

Vista Service Pack 1 is the first major update since Vista came out. Many users have already chosen to download it by visiting the Windows website since it became available in February. But Microsoft only started distributing it through the automatic update service last week.

Not everyone will have received Service Pack 1 before the update service was put on hold. Rather than try to send it out to millions of customers at once, Microsoft distributes it in phases to make sure downloads are as quick as possible.

If your computer hasn’t automatically updated to Service Pack 1 yet, you can still get hold of it at http://update.microsoft.com. Microsoft will also continue using this site for any new updates they make available before the automatic update service is back in action.

Service Pack 1 doesn’t add any major new features, but it brings together all the smaller bug fixes and improvements Microsoft has made since Vista originally came out. It also closes a couple of loopholes which software pirates had exploited to run illegal copies of the software.

Surprisingly, though, it removes a feature that means copies which haven’t been activated only work in a very limited fashion. Instead, such copies will now display warning messages on the screen.

Microsoft says that’s to be fairer to people who’ve unwittingly obtained an illegal copy, though some have said it will make life easier for pirates, particularly those who don’t have to worry about other people seeing the warning messages.

John Lister is a freelance writer from Manchester, England. After graduating from a professionally-accredited journalism degree course in 1998, he spent six years running the press office for Plain English Campaign, a pressure group working to make public information clearer. He now works full-time writing articles and producing summaries of newspaper reports.

His technology-writing experience includes daily articles for the Infopackets technology newsletter. His other specialties include the professional wrestling industry, about which he has written two books.