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Comment by freehunter | Hacker News Reader

My main issue with Windows 8 updates is that, yeah it's nice that it tells you when it needs to reboot for updates and when that is going to happen, but I don't feel in control of it at all. I was taking a test online for a class, and the notice popped up that it was going to reboot in 15 minutes. I explicitly did not reboot before the test because I figured I could delay the reboot. It didn't give me that option. I started flying through the test in the hopes that I could finish in time. I didn't. Halfway through the test, the PC reboots without ever giving me an option to make it wait.

There might be an option in the settings menu, but most time I want it to reboot automatically. Occasionally I would like to defer that for another 15 minutes.

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Windows 8 gives you three days from the time it installs an update and until it forces a reboot, 3 days. If you don't like that then you have many options, to say "I don't feel in control of it at all" is pretty ridiculous when you have all these options http://i.minus.com/i4uIsZYCj4oek.jpg

Three days is too short. I should be able to prolong it forever, because it is MY computer. This should not require an option change. What if, just this once, I want it to reboot after 3 days and 15 minutes?

Then you set the updates from automatic to manual and install them when or if you ever feel like it.

Most people never update their Windows PCs and they end up using a PC with bugs and performance issues that have long been fixed and security holes you could drive a truck through, I'm glad automatic updates are now turned on by default and that you also have to option to opt out.

I work in information security. I've fought all-out wars with our desktop support team to get security patches forced to client machines, and to enforce a policy of mandatory reboots that can only be deferred for up to 12 hours. I don't have a problem with forcing a reboot. But if I need another 15 minutes, I want to be able to tell my machine to wait another 15 minutes.

Forcing a reboot is great. Forcing a reboot without letting me defer for a few minutes is not. A better middle ground, the one I fought for at work, is to defer the reboot until the user is asleep.

> ... I'm glad automatic updates are now turned on by default and that you also have to option to opt out.

That's fine and all, but if I want to defer a reboot, I should have that choice. The system can nag me all it wants, I'll eventually give in and reboot, but at a time of my own choosing.

Maybe I'm running low on battery power. Or taking a test. Or in a conference call with an important customer. Or just having a good ol' time raiding with my guildies. Its my computer, it should be my decision no matter what.

Any reboot the user did not authorize is effectively a system crash. It's unplanned unwanted downtime. Forcing reboots is okay as a policy that can be enabled in enterprise environments, but it really shouldn't be a default.

Windows 95 could run for 45 days before crashing. Out of the box, it looks like Windows 8 won't be able to manage that feat, with Patch Tuesdays every month.

The user did authorize it by having automatic updates turned on. To use the term crashing is disingenuous.

90% of the updates I have received haven't required a reboot.

Windows 8 also warns the user on the lock screen during the three days that a reboot is necessary/impending like so http://blogs.msdn.com/cfs-filesystemfile.ashx/__key/communit...

> The user did authorize it by having automatic updates turned on.

That is a tenuous description of "authorization." The user is asked once when they set up their computer whether automatic updates should be enabled and the downsides are not outlined. It is strongly "recommended."

On the plus side, Windows 8 is handling it much better.

Also I didn't mention the updates that require reboots are only released once a month.

From here http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/11/14/minimizing-res...

"WU will consolidate all the restarts in a month, synchronizing with the monthly security release. This means that your PC will only restart when security updates are installed and require a restart. With this improvement, it does not matter when updates that require restarts are released in a month, since these restarts will wait till the security release. Since security updates are released in a single batch on the second Tuesday of every month, you are then getting essentially one restart a month."

Yea those days are gone thanks to highly developed malware and easily downloadable exploit packs. Once updates get released people quickly reverse them and use the new exploits before people get around to wait 15 seconds so their computer can reboot. Comparing rebooting to install updates to a system crash is ridiculous.

When I'm playing a game and my system suddenly restarts without warning it feels like a crash. Nag all you want, but a restart without explicit user approval is a terrible design decision. And if you are going to do it at least postpone it to a time when the user isn't actively using the machine.

The problem is, previous versions of Windows and really all versions of every OS will allow you to defer the reboot. Windows 8 was the first I encountered that didn't let me do that. I don't want to not reboot every time, but I'd like the ability to defer it once. I was expecting that. Maybe that's my fault, but there wasn't a warning that this has changed.

Do those options help you when you find yourself unexpectedly facing a 15 minute to reboot deadline?

Microsoft gets a lot of UI policy stuff wrong, but the way the updates worked in Vista and 7 were just about ideal. It's so good, I wish the Vista/7 Windows Update mechanism could roll in updates for non-MS products as well, because the MS update works so much more seamlessly than (for example) the Adobe updater, the Mozilla updater, the Google updater, the Garmin updater, etc. And it would be far less irritating and confusing to have one update system running than five.

I don't understand how this "no-postponement is possible" scenario is an improvement.

joenathan, what are the third and eight applications pinned on your taskbar in the linked image : http://i.minus.com/i4uIsZYCj4oek.jpg?

The third is Google Chrome and the eight is Media Player Classic. I'm using icons from this pack here http://dakirby309.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d4n4w3q

I created a couple of the icons myself for FreeCell and Spider Solitaire(spider&crown).

That explains it. I'd like to think I'm pretty good at recognizing software icons but those threw me off there.

The icons in the icon pack are like a breathe of fresh air and I may use some myself. Thanks for sharing.

  c:\> net stop wuauserv

I recently attempted to do this while burning an Ubuntu ISO to a USB stick - the restart countdown will still progress even if the update server is off.

Shutdown -a didn't work either.

There are a couple other methods too. There's a group policy setting (that you can define on a standalone system), gpedit.msc which says "No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations".

There's also a registry key..

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU

Dword: NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers: 1

Great tip, thanks.

Here is the full path, pretty straight-forward.

  Local Computer Policy
  + Computer Configuration
    + Administrative Templates
      + Windows Components
        + Windows Update
          + No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations
            + Enabled

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