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The company has assured users ahead of the new release that it has fixed the problem and that it is safe to download the update. Besides re-releasing the update for automatic download and installation, Microsoft will also issue a fix to prevent reboots from overwhelming a PC.

In mid-February, Microsoft began pushing the Servicing Stack Update (SSU) and one other prerequisite to Vista users as the final stage of a two-month process of preparing the operating system for the release of SP1. Within days though, tales of stymied updates and frozen computers came to light. When these users switched off their machines in an attempt to regain control of their machines, the systems rebooted endlessly.

The company was forced to pull the SSU from automatic distribution as a short-term solution, although it left it on the Windows Update servers.