I DON'T EXPECT RELEASE CANDI date of Windows Vista's Service Pack 1 to be dangerous in any way, but most people should avoid beta service packs nonetheless. Wait for the final version of SPI, available shortly.

The service pack is mostly invisible, making Vista faster and more secure, and of course it adds drivers. It's not critical, however, the way SP2 was for XP. And Vista SPI changes little you'd notice in your day-to-day experience.
The bulk of the development effort has gone toward upgrading security subsys¬tems-elements that enterprise clients find appealing but consumers and small business users won't really notice.

Improvements in secu¬rity are what really define SPI. First-and particularly important if you're a group administrator-the Group Management Policy Console (GMPC) has disappeared, and the Group Policy Editor (GPEdit) focuses on local instead of global policy. Second, with SPI on 64-bit Vista, third-party anti-malware programs gain access to new application programming interfaces. They allow these programs to extend the Windows kernel directly to provide lower-level detection of malicious code, giving secu¬rity software a better chance of blocking or deleting such code-a useful advance. SPI also allows Remote Desktop files to
be signed be signed, providing increased security for anyone using the Remote Desktop Protocol to connect with (and controD otherPCs.

Name: Windows Vista's Service Pack 1.jpg Views: 731 Size: 17.0 KB

Another enhancement affects, for the most part, only those who've pur¬chased computers that shipped with Vista installed. BitLocker, built into the original Vista so that users could encrypt an entire drive, functioned only with the drive the OS boots from. With SPI you can use BitLocker with any drive-an obvious improve¬ment. BitLocker still requires a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip, of course. To see if BitLocker will work, click on the Start button and type bitlocker into the search field. If your system lacks a TPM chip, a message alerts you.

All these improvements will be a good thing. But remember, RCI is time¬limited. According to Microsoft, it "will no longer operate" after June 30, 2008. Does that mean Vista itself will not operate? We're just not sure. You really will need to uninstall RCI after that date and move on to the release version ofSPI, which is expected in the first quarter of2008. For PC Magazine's review of the Vista SPI beta, see go.pcmag.com/vistaspl.
STAY SAFE! Find the latest tech security news on PC Magazine's Security Watch, at blogs.pcmag.com/securitywatch.