Microsoft's Releases Updated to Resolve Vista Compatibility and Reliability Issues

Posted on August 8, 2007

Microsot has released two updates - the 938194 package and the 938979 package - that it says will resolves some performance, compatibility and reliability issues in Windows Vista. Microsoft says the 938194 update fixes the following errors and/or problems:

The screen may go blank when you try to upgrade the video driver. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
932539 The screen may go blank when you try to upgrade the video driver on a Windows Vista-based computer
The computer stops responding, and you receive a "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered" error message. You can restart the computer only by pressing the computer's power button.
The computer stops responding or restarts unexpectedly when you play video games or perform desktop operations.
The Diagnostic Policy Service (DPS) stops responding when the computer is under heavy load or when very little memory is available. This problem prevents diagnostics from working.
The screen goes blank after an external display device that is connected to the computer is turned off. For example, this problem may occur when a projector is turned off during a presentation.
There are stability issues with some graphics processing units (GPUs). These issues could cause GPUs to stop responding (hang).
Visual appearance issues occur when you play graphics-intensive games.
You experience poor playback quality when you play HD DVD disks or Blu-ray disks on a large monitor.
Applications that load the Netcfgx.dll component exit unexpectedly.
Windows Calendar exits unexpectedly after you create a new appointment, create a new task, and then restart the computer.
Internet Connection Sharing stops responding after you upgrade a computer that is running Microsoft Windows XP to Windows Vista and then restart the computer.
The Printer Spooler service stops unexpectedly.
You receive a "Stop 0x0000009F" error when you put the computer to sleep while a Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) connection is active. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
931671 Error message when you put a Windows Vista-based computer to sleep while a PPP connection is active: "STOP 0x0000009F"

An Ars Technica article says these patches are not on Windows Update yet but should be eventually. Ars Technica also says these patches should end up being part of Service Pack 1 for Vista which they expect in November of this year.