Microsoft Office Suite 2007 Service Pack 2 released
Microsoft released its second service pack for the Office 2007 suite several days ago. Sp2 includes several major changes, in brief there’s a new feature to save as PDF/ODF formats, performance increases to Outlook and bug fixes for the office suite programs. Also it includes the security updates and hot fixes that were previously released.
Overview of Service Pack 2 (SP2) improvements
Description of some big areas of improvement that are included in SP2.
Microsoft Office Access
- Lets you export reports to Microsoft Office Excel.
- Supports memo fields in the mailing label wizard for addresses.
- Fixes issues that occur in the import data wizards, in report printing and previewing, in macros, in Excel integration, and in date filters.
- Includes updates to Access Developer Extensions.
Microsoft Office Excel
- Improves the charting mechanism in Excel 2007. This includes better parity with Office 2003, improved robustness, and targeted performance improvements.
- Adds a chart object model to Word and to PowerPoint.
- Improves shapes that are surfaced in Excel. This includes better parity with Office 2003 and targeted performance improvements.
- Improves the method by which Excel prints graphical content, especially when it prints to PCL printers.
- Adds conversion rates to the Excel Euro Currency Tools add-in for the Maltese lira and for the Cypriot pound.
Windows Vista Sp2 public release on December 4th (Already released to Technet and MSDN subscibers)
Windows Vista SP2 beta builds were released some time ago to selected beta testers. Microsoft has officially released the SP2 Beta to TechNet and MSDN subscribers. So if you are a TechNet or MSDN subscriber you will be able to download it. And if you are not a subscriber, you wont have a long wait because Microsoft is going to release the same beta build to public on 4th December.(which is of course today…Even if they did not its not like its hard to find 
). Remember this is not final version, just the beta we got ages ago.
Some main features in SP2 Beta:
- SP2 contains Blue tooth 2.1 feature pack supporting the most recent specification for Blue tooth technology
- Inclusion of Hyper-V
- Windows Vista Feature Pack for Wireless
- Reduction of resources required for sidebar gadgets
- Improved power settings for WS08
- Ability to record data on Blu-Ray media
- exFAT file system now supports UTC timestamps, which enables correct file synchronization across time zones
- Inclusion of Windows Search 4 for improved indexing performance
- Improvements to the RSS feeds sidebar gadget to improve update performance and responsiveness
- Spysweeper and ZoneAlarm now working with POP3 email accounts
- Customers installing .net framework 3.5 service pack 1 will notice shorter download and installation times with Vista service pack 2 or Windows 2008 service pack 2 already installed
- Service Pack Clean up tool (Compcln.exe) to help restore the hard disk space by permanently deleting the previous versions of the files (RTM & SP1) that are being serviced by Service Pack 2
- Single installer for both Vista & Server 2008
Installing Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) KB948465
Well the latest build of the vista SP2 (build number 6002.16497) is out, I know that a lot of you will be wanting to upgrade and some of you might be scared that it may ruin system stability (and with the history of Microsoft Betas, your fears are justifiable) but do not worry as I have tried it and it installs fine. SO I decided to make a small guide on how to install it without getting into a trouble spot.
Before even thinking of adding the registry patch using our script (see below), backup your System Drive (in most cases the C: drive) first.
Vista SP2 Beta 6002.16497 Out!
Microsoft released a new beta version with the build number 6002.16497 to Windows Vista Service Pack 2 to testers. The earlier registry edit is still used to get the new build as well. It will install a new version ?113?.
This is available through windows update or Microsoft Connect.
Make sure that you uninstall the old pre-beta as updating over the earlier SP2 build is not supported . So if you have already installed SP2 pre-beta build 105, uninstall it, reboot the computer and connect to Windows Update and you will have to download several updates before you can install the new build. If you didn?t install the pre-beta,apply the Registry keys of the file and connect to Windows Update to bring their Vista operating system to version 113.
Note: Make sure you backup your system or use it on a PC for testing purposes. Also this build will be expiring in 2010.Also keep in mind to see any updates please restart the computer after adding the registry patch or any other update that?s needed prior to install this build
Download batch script (Password: dotnetwizard.net)
Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) Pre-Beta 6002.16489 Released to testers.
Microsoft has started to release Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) pre-beta to testers. Similar to the old SP1 beta, Microsoft is still using the PC GUID identification of the tester and the usual batch command script to release Windows Vista SP2 through Windows Update.(no manual download is available yet)
The build version number of the released Vista SP2 is 6002.16489 (lh_sp2beta.080924-1740).
Microsoft will release Vista SP2 before Windows 7
According to a recent report from ZDNet.com Microsoft is planning to release Vista SP2, a SP2 for Windows Server 2008 will also be released simultaneously. Since Windows Server 2008 is built on Vista SP1, the first SP1 for Windows Server 2008 will get the same treatment as SP2.
According to the source, Microsoft has already shipped a beta of the SP2 for Vista for a limited number of their software and hardware partners. It?s some time before it gets leaked to the P2P world.
