Windows Vista alerted me this morning that a solution was available to a problem I experienced yesterday.
KB941649 is another in a series of “compatibility, reliability, and stability” updates and is available in versions for both x86 and x64 Vista systems.
Here’s a list of what it is intended to fix:
It extends the battery life for mobile devices.
It improves the stability of portable computers and of desktop computers that use an uninterruptable power supply (UPS).
It improves the reliability of Windows Vista when you open the menu of a startup application.
It improves the stability of wireless network services.
It shortens the startup time of Windows Vista by using a better timing structure.
It shortens the recovery time after Windows Vista experiences a period of inactivity.
It shortens the recovery time when you try to exit the Photos screen saver.
It improves the stability of Windows PowerShell.
It also resolves these issues:
A compatibility issue that affects some third-party antivirus software applications.
A reliability issue that occurs when a Windows Vista-based computer uses certain network driver configurations.
There is one caveat in the online documentation that applies to systems with the (presumably rare) combination of an older AHCI BIOS and certain CD or DVD drives. According to the article, this issue causes this system configuration to hang at startup after applying the update. The fix is to boot from the Vista DVD and run repair.
This is officially released code, so I can recommend it without reservation. It seems to have had a positive impact on my startup times already.
Are there other updates like this that you’d recommend?
I have been struggling with the “local access only” problem with a Vista wireless connection. There are hundreds of complaints about this on numerous user forums. I saw that this Microsoft update claimed “It improves the stability of wireless network services. ” I have downloaded and installed. I have only had a few hours of experience but so far so good. Anyone else out there dealing with this issue? Thanks.