Vista Users: Is your anti-virus package compatible

With Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) soon to be available to all consumers and businesses, you'll want to make sure that your system is ready for the upgrade before you take the plunge.

One of the main concerns with the new service pack is incompatibility with current software that you already have installed. Notably, it was recently announced that several common anti-virus programs will not be compatible with SP1. These include Zone Alarm Security Suite 7.1, Trend Micro Internet Security 2008 and BitDefender 10.

According to this article from Information Week, Microsoft said the blocks occur because the antivirus programs are not compatible with Vista SP1. "For reliability reasons, Microsoft blocks these programs from starting after you install Windows Vista SP1," the company said in a statement posted  on its support Web site.

If you have one of the programs mentioned above, you'll want to make sure that you install a compatibility patch from the vendor before proceeding with SP1.

Once you've reconciled your compatibility issues, SP1 will fix over 300 problems with Vista, including performance issues.

Microsoft plans to have SP1 available as a manual download around mid-March on Windows Update. Customers who have signed up for automated downloads from Windows Update will receive SP1 in mid-April.

Watch this space for updates on any other compatibility issues that we are alerted to in the future.