dls computers Rotating Header Image

Windows Vista

How To Uninstall Microsoft Vista SP1 Pre-release Version

Mar 19th, 2008
by David.
2 comments

To be able to install Microsoft Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) you first need to uninstall any pre-release version of SP1.

But how? I’ve tried going to Uninstall Programs but it isn’t listed.

Here’s the answer.

  • Click Start
  • Control Panel
  • Uninstall a Program
  • View Installed Updates (on the left menu)
  • Scroll down to the heading Microsoft Windows
  • Right click the appropriate Service Pack
  • Click Uninstall
  • Follow any prompts
  • Restart the computer when prompted to do so

Easy task to complete, but somewhat difficult to locate.

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) Released Today

Mar 19th, 2008
by David.
No comments yet

Microsoft has today released Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) for download via Windows Update or from the Microsoft download center.

If you don’t want to download and install it yourself, it will automatically be installed using Windows Update in the coming days / weeks.

Important to note. If you have installed a pre-release version of SP1 you need to uninstall it before installing Vista SP1.

To read more, please visit the Windows Vista Team Blog.

Vista Open Command Prompt At Specific Folder

Feb 18th, 2008
by David.
No comments yet

Instead of opening a command prompt, then having to manually type cd / etc, etc, etc to get to the folder you need, try this tip.

  1. Open Computer or Windows Key + E
  2. Drill down to the folder you wish to work with.
  3. Whilst holding down the shift key, right click the folder.
  4. You now have a new menu item. Open with command prompt here.
  5. Click and you’re done.

Try the same on a network share and see what happens. It automatically maps a drive for you. How cool is that.

Clicking Links In Outlook 2007 Using Vista And Firefox Generates Error

Feb 10th, 2008
by David.
3 comments

When clicking a website link in Outlook 2007 do you get the following error message? General failure. The URL was: “http://www.somewebsite.com.”. The system cannot find the file specified.

If you get this error, then try this fix. Please note these instruction are only for Vista.

  1. Click Start
  2. Type regedit and press enter
  3. Drill down to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\HTTP\shell\open\ddeexec
  4. Delete the ddeexec registry key
  5. Drill down to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\HTTPS\shell\open\ddeexec
  6. Delete the ddeexec registry key
  7. Drill down to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\FirefoxURL\shell\open\ddeexec
  8. Delete the ddeexec registry key
  9. Drill down to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\FirefoxHTML\shell\open\ddeexec
  10. Delete the ddeexec registry key
  11. Close out of regedit
  12. No reboot required

Now try clicking the link again in Outlook 2007. Problem should now be fixed.

Microsoft Announces Windows Vista SP1 RTM

Feb 4th, 2008
by David.
No comments yet

Microsoft have today released Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Windows Vista to manufacturing (RTM). They are claiming great progress in performance, compatibility and reliability.

I certainly hope this will be the customer experience. Whilst I haven’t personally had any issues with the “Gold” release of Vista, there are some performance aspects that I hope have been sorted in SP1. In particular file copying seems to be very slow in the Gold version. The comment from Microsoft is once SP1 has been installed on your system, copying or moving files should now be much faster, up to 50% faster. Let’s see if that holds true.

Microsoft says that 98 out of the top 100 software applications have versions that are Vista compatible. This along with support for more that 78,000 devices, which is up from 34,000 in November 2006 should make most people quite comfortable making the move to Vista.

Vista SP1 is scheduled for availability via Windows Update and the Microsoft download center around mid March 2008.