Hi Folks, Recall the discussion regarding Family Tree Maker (FTM) and problems with running it on Microsoft Windows Vista that appeared on the GASCREVE list during January. Well, it only gets worse. /Id Est/, beware of the new Service Pack Release 1 for MS Windows Vista... You might want to share these items with other Vista users with whom you've shared notes about upgrades. This one is simply deadly, too often... This deals with the new Microsoft Vista Service Pack Release 1, which is presently in a pre-release distribution to reviewers and technical analysts. As some report, this service pack release (freely downloadable upgrade [make that a so-called FIX] to MS Vista) is proving to be dangerously deadly to some computers with original installations of Vista. There is no telling what will happen when this monster gets released into general distribution. I earlier shared this information with certain members of this list who had dealt with problems having arisen with Family Tree Maker and Microsoft Windows Vista. Dale E. Reddick ___________________________________ Death encounters with Vista SP1 RTM <http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=993> http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=993&tag=nl.e589 I completed the first two installations of Vista SP1 RTM upgrade last night on to my primary desktop computer and my first Vista laptop meant to be my new work computer. The result is a near death experience with my desktop computer, and then a real death experience with the laptop. I guess I should count myself lucky that it wasn’t my main computer that died since I haven’t migrated to the laptop for work yet. I will try to get some help from Microsoft to see if we can resolve this issue. *Near death with desktop computer:* The desktop computer almost didn’t make the upgrade but finally managed to pull itself out of the gates of hell. The SP1 upgrade on both computers took more than an hour to install along with multiple reboots. When the desktop system finally allowed me to log in, it went in to non-aero mode and it refused to let me flip in to aero. The sound was temporarily messed up but I managed to get it working after I enabled the sound. 5 minutes after I logged in the Windows SP1 upgrade finally told me it was finished which seems strange since you would think the user should be locked out until everything was done. Since I couldn’t get aero running I figured I’d try rebooting but the next reboot just seemed to hang on a black screen with a working mouse pointer for 5 minutes so I tried rebooting again. On that last reboot everything finally came up and I breathed a sigh of relief. *Death of a laptop:* The laptop computer on the other hand went a little smoother on the SP1 upgrade and worked fine for about two hours until I installed the latest DivX codec and the whole machine just locked up after Vista popped up the Windows experience feedback prompt. Now this laptop locks up the entire computer within 15 seconds of logging in and there’s no way I even have time to run system restore to see if I can get it to the state right after I installed SP1. All I see is a locked up Vista screen and the laptop is as useful as a bookend. It is possible that this could be a hardware issue but the laptop was working fine up until this point. I don’t know if Vista SP1 just doesn’t like DivX or if it was just a coincidence and something else is causing this problem. I have the same DivX codec installed on my desktop computer this week but it was installed before last night when I installed Vista SP1. It’s quite possible that installing this version of DivX after SP1 will kill the computer but if this is the true, Microsoft needs to issue a warning and block this codec from installing after SP1 has already installed. If you’re planning on installing SP1 on your computer, *DO NOT* install DivX codec after you’ve installed SP1 until after I verify what’s going on and update this blog. If you have DivX codec installed already, then it doesn’t seem to be a problem. Vista SP1 - Day 1 <http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1243> http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1243&tag=nl.e589 On Monday the 4th of February Microsoft announced that Windows Vista Service Pack 1 had been released to manufacturing. Although the code has been finalized, Windows Vista users won’t start to get their hands for a few weeks. I’ve been fortunate to be sent the SP1 installer files, along with a complete copy of Vista with SP1 integrated into it. It’s time to fire up a test system and see what happens. Given the fact that my ZDNet blogging colleague George Ou had some pretty negative experiences with installing SP1 <http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=993> (one machine seems to have eaten a dirt sandwich, which another is ill after having taken a few bites) I demonstrated great restraint in not throwing caution to the wind and installing the update straight onto my main work system. Ann