The service pack for Vista, which is hoped will make the operating system usable and therefore worth upgrading to, is to be made available to the great unwashed. Although it is still really just a release candidate.

The service pack for Vista, which is hoped will make the operating system usable and therefore worth upgrading to, is to be made available to the great unwashed . Although it is still really just a release candidate.

The code, called Windows Vista SP1 RC Refresh, had been dished out to a group of around 15,000 guinea pigs (or testers as they like to be called) who had been in close contact with the service pack for a good few months. This service pack has not been available to the general public. But now the Redmond behemoth has done an about turn and posted instructions on its website so the likes of you and me download and install the new code via the Windows Update service.

The Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC Refresh Public Availability Program asks that users uninstall Vista SP1 Release Candidate, the earlier version the general public was offered around month ago, before downloading and installing the refresh.

Not only that, you have to go through quite a few reboots before you can use the machine again. Also you have to wait an hour before starting the update process. "The installer service needs to clean up and complete the uninstall prior to installing the RC," according to instructions posted on the Microsoft site. "Failing to do this can result in installation errors when installing the RC version."

The company, via this blog, admitted that there was a few glitches with some updates for the shiny new OS.

"(KB935509) was being offered for installation on all Windows Vista editions vs. just Ultimate and Enterprise," said the blog. " A quick adjustment of the applicability logic was released shortly there-after to refine the edition offering behavior."

Whatever that means! We at Absolute Gadget are sticking to our XP boxes and Macs for the meantime until someone gets a clue about updating Vista.