Dreams of Mayhem

[theoldwolf]

<Rant>



First off, yeah there's a workaround. I know how to shut this off. Most people, however, do not. And if I could cast a vote for the most annoying nag ever invented, it would be this one. Which just popped up again as I was typing this:



By Mogg's golden eyes, how hard would it have been to add one little button?



I have these dreams. A darkened interrogation room, a programmer tied to a chair. A cattle prod.



"Restart this!" zzt! Aieee! "And this!" zzt! Aieee! "And this!" zzt! Aieee!

Such a pleasant fantasy...

</Rant>

Oh yeah, and the workaround? Open a command window (Start Menu > Run). Type cmd and click "OK". In the command window, type sc stop wuauserv. Automatic Updates will resume the next time you restart your computer (when you want to). So don't worry, you'll keep getting Windows updates. Just don't forget to restart eventually.

Comments

[fearciuil.livejournal.com]

I had a day this week (um ... Tuesday, I think) on which my school computer updated ... I had to restart that *words incoherent* five times.

Clearly, I have nothing better to do all morning than sit and restart my computer. >(

[ccdesan.livejournal.com]

*words incoherent*

My high-end CIA-level audio equipment picked up your comment and was able to filter out the static and background noise. It was "Jævla drittsekk".

[fearciuil.livejournal.com]

Heehee. Oh, you caught me. ;P

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

Eh, this is but a minor annoyance to me. Restarting doesn't take long. But I guess being a "feature" makes it worse.

Mind you, the last two days have seen my work PC doubly plagued. My buddy in IT spent more than half of yesterday removing obstinate malware (I don't remember disabling Symantec lately), but there's still a problem: When I do a Google search, whether in Firefox or in IE, the first 1-3 links I click from the results page get redirected to one of various job search sites. I can work around it, but it's far more inconvenient than restart prompts.

[ccdesan.livejournal.com]

It's like food - each has his own "hot buttons"...

[dhlawrence.livejournal.com]

My work computer never asks either; it just gives me the option of 'Install Updates and Shut Down' at the end of the day when I shut down the computer. Don't think it's a code workaround, though.

[stevenroy.livejournal.com]

The thing is, Windows really does not like having its updates left in a "mostly-installed" state. There's too much slight risk that a user or program might try to install some other component during that time and potentially botch part of the update.

I think the best option is to poke around the "System Properties" and turn off the automatic installation of updates at 3:00 AM, and use the "Let me choose when to install them" option instead. The updates still get installed when you click the "Shut Down" button, or you can click the Windows Updates icon in the corner and hit "install now" at any time. You'll still get the nagging if enough time passes between the install and the reboot, but if you get to choose when the install is, that's no longer as big a problem.

[ccdesan.livejournal.com]

Oh, right. Come up with a practical solution, why don't you? Takes all the fun out of hating Microsoft, it does.

[stevenroy.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, I'm sure you'll figure out another reason soon enough!

[kusanagi-sama.livejournal.com]

What's nice about Windows 7, is that after the updates are installed and you need a restart is that the dialog box now gives you a choice of how long you want your next reminder. If I remember correctly, its 20 minutes, 1 hour and 4 hours.

I used to leave automatic updates off when I ran XP, but since I now run Windows 7, I leave it on since it'll gripe if you leave it off.