Windows 7 SP1 available to all starting today

If you’re a Windows 7 user then today’s the day you’ve been waiting for for a very long time (well, OK, maybe not) - Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is available to all. Previously it was only available to those with a TechNet or MSDN subscription.

Note: Oh, also available is Windows Server 2008 R2 service pack 1.

There are two ways to get your hands on it.

• Download the massive 2GB ‘one size fits all’ update from Microsoft (handy of you are updating multiple PCs)
• Allow it to come in via Windows Update (this way you get a much smaller package tailored to the specific needs of your PC)

A few things to bear in mind:

• This update is hardly game-changing. It’s nothing like the Vista SP1 update. Here you have a roll-up of bug fixes and previously released updates. Nothing really exciting.
• If your system has one of the following hotfixes installed - 2406705, 979350 or 983534 - then you are going to have problems installing SP1. Workaround for this issue is listed here.
• If you have a beta or RC of SP1 already installed, you’ll need to uninstall this to install the final release.