The service pack 1 of vista contains all the security updates and reliability updates and ............list goes on.

Lets come on to some of the notable and important changes that will completely change your vista experience. Here are a few .

1)Desktop search changes: Third party application will now be able to integrate into vista desktop search. This was followed by a google's lawsuit complaining about the same. Google thinks users will dump the powerful vista search and use their desktop search instead of it. LOL

The changes include : missing search item in the start menu and missing search item in the context menu whenever you right click on a folder. The search protocol can now be used to use the default vista search or any other 3rd party application. Opening regedit and going to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\find and deleting the string value legacydisable will bring back the search item in context menu. You can access the start menu search by win + F key.

Make sure your default search protocol is set properly by going to start -> default programs -> ; associate a protocol with a program .

2)Welcome the ex-FAT file system : ex-FAT or extended FAT(also known as FAT64) is available in vista sp1 and windows server 2008.FAT32 limited the file size to approx 4 GB and partitions to 32GB.ex-fat file size limit is approx 16 exabytes and partition limit (I don't know)
.ex-FAT is meant for use with removable storage devices as NTFS has less performance on such devices and FAT32 has size and other limitations.

A problem with ex-FAT is that XP and earlier windows OSes wont be able to read the drives formatted as ex-FAT. I formatted a drive with ex-FAT and it showed nothing in XP and a non-SP1 vista system.

You can use it as a way of encrypting your files. hehe

3)Say goodbye to the right click delay : No more delays when right clicking folders especially removable drives etc. The right click and properties option from the context menu on a drive will now be fast.

4)Extremely Faster file copy: The file copy operation no more waits for about 10 seconds to calculate the time required to copy and starts copying immediately. More better results when copying from remote locations especially from a XP system.

5)No illegal installations: SP1 will disable the two exploits that were widely used for using illegal copies of vista : the oem bios exploit and the grace timer exploit. Finally an end for those who use pirated copies.

6)Less trouble with mcafee and norton removal: Some changes to the Vista kernel will prevents security companies like mcafee and symantec from integrating as tightly with the OS as they could in previous windows versions. You will still need those removal tools to completely uninstall these.

7)Improvements in defragmenter: It is now possible to configure the default windows defragmenter ( manual scan or scheduled scan ) to run on specific volumes rather than the entire disk.

8)Lesser resource usage: Upto 10% less ram usage when idle, mine was reduced by around 80mb. Also less hard disk usage when idle.

So what are you waiting for ? go get the SP1 update .

For making the SP1 update permanent read this : http://forums.pcworld.com/thread/29474
(you wont be able to restore to non-sp1 vista after this).

Thanx

Piyush