Symantec Users Still Can't Download Vista SP1

Microsoft has configured Windows Update to prevent Vista users whose PCs contain certain device drivers from downloading Vista SP1 because these drivers were reportedly causing technical issues after SP1 was installed. These drivers included display drivers from Intel and a software driver for Symantec's Endpoint Protection 11.0 and Network Access Control products.

In an email to Everything Channel, Brian Foster, senior director of product management at Symantec, said the currently-available versions of Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0 and Symantec Network Access Control are not certified for use with Vista SP1 and could potentially be impacted by this issue.

However, Symantec has fixed the driver issue in the upcoming maintenance releases of the Endpoint Protection and Network Access Control products, which are currently in the hands of beta customers and due to be available for general release in the coming weeks, according to Foster. Both upcoming releases will be fully certified for Vista SP1.

Launched last September, Endpoint Protection 11.0, formerly known as Project Hamlet, is an amalgam of antivirus, firewall, network and host IPS, application and device control, and rootkit detection functions, all integrated into the Symantec endpoint protection agent. Symantec Network Access Control 11.0 is available as a separate license.

Endpoint Protection 11.0, which replaced the embattled Antivirus Corporate Edition product line, includes a Veritas technology known as Raw Disk Scan that can find rootkits hidden deep within the dark recesses of hard drives, and a homegrown network IPS technology called Generic Exploit Blocking that can detect zero day threats without the use of signatures.

While Symantec users will have to wait for Vista SP1, an Intel spokesperson said in an email that Intel's latest Graphics Media Accelerator Driver for Windows Vista driver allows its users to download SP1 today.

The driver, which Intel updated Feb. 21, allows PCs running the Intel G31, G33, G35, Q33, Q35, G965, Q965, Q963, 946GZ, 945G, and 945GZ Express desktop chipsets to download Vista SP1 from Windows Update.