Microsoft has recently released the latest Service Pack for Windows Vista.
A service pack is a collection of software updates, fixes and or enhancements delivered in one package.
When it comes to operating system updates, I recommend they are installed as soon as possible, with service packs I usually read what other peoples experiences are, or install on a test machine to see if any major changes have occurred.
After a bit of research on the latest Service Pack, I say Vista SP2 may very well be worth the install.
The service pack can range anywhere from 40MB up to 650MB download, depending on what version of the Operating system you are running.
Aside from the usual fixes and OS updates etc. The service pack runs a Clean-up tool (Compcln.exe).
Quoted from the Microsoft Website:
“SP2 also includes a Service Pack Clean-up tool (Compcln.exe) which helps recover the hard disk space by permanently deleting previous versions of files (RTM and SP1) that are being serviced by SP2. The Service Pack Clean up tool can also be run offline while creating slipstream images to reduce the size of the image.”
According to Microsoft this tool deletes previously used installation files which as a lot of people including myself are noticing, adds up to a lot of disc space. in my case it freed up over 40GB of Hard Drive Space.
I have included a before and after screen shot of available space from my SP2 install.
I have not noticed any great performance changes and everything seems to have installed fine with no issues. I would say it is a safe bet for home users.
I have included a link to the SP2 Change log:
Microsoft SP2 Change Log