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The company said last month that it would release SP1 in mid-March, giving it time to deal with a series of driver bugs discovered in the beta testing phase.

Now, it seems retailers are preparing for the full launch this week. A search on Amazon.com reveals that pre-packaged retail

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versions of Vista with SP1 will be released on 19 March.

Curiously, Amazon.co.uk says the Vista SP1 products won't be released until 4 April, suggesting that either the British arm of the web retail giant has failed to update its release dates or that British buyers may be in for a longer wait for the full retail versions to go on sale.

However, rival British retailer Dabs.com says that Vista SP1 boxes will be ready for delivery for within 3-5 days.

Rumours also suggest that Vista owners will be able to download the Service Pack from Tuesday, giving them a narrow headstart over retail buyers.

Click here to read PC Pro's verdict on Vista SP1.