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Until late last night, Vista owners had to manually download the Service Pack. Now it will be automatically downloaded on machines that have Automatic Updates switched on, with the PC alerting owners when the full patch is ready to install.

However, not all Vista PCs will see SP1 immediately. Microsoft is gradually phasing in the software, while it attempts to overcome <

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problems with third-party device drivers that can cause the operating system to hang.

Microsoft will be hoping that the mainstream release of the Service Pack won't see a repeat of the problems that many users reported when SP1 was first launched. Botched installations, driver conflicts and performance problems were all reported within hours of SP1's release in mid March.

It's been a busy week for the Windows team, with the third and final Service Pack for Windows XP released to manufacturing and an underwhelming new set of Vista Ultimate Extras unveiled.