Windows Forced Restarts

Published 12 August 07 11:44 PM | russnem
Recently I came in to work to find that my computer had restarted some time during the night. I thought there was a power outage, but that wasn't the case. Apparently an automatic update was installed, which forced a restart of the computer.

How can Microsoft allow this? How can they simply restart the computer no matter what the user might have open or what long-running jobs happen to be executing? There was no warning whatsoever.

If you ask me, this kind of crap is absolutely unacceptable. I asked around and others agree - they said they've lost work because Microsoft forced their computer to reboot. My opinion is that Microsoft needs to release a hotfix that prevents this from happening. I don't mind restarting Windows (when I have to use Windows), but it should happen when it's convenient for ME, not for Microsoft.

There are people who will tell me that there are frequent security updates to Windows that, if not activated by restarting, put the whole network at risk. Well that's fine. Just disable the network and don't let me reconnect to it until I've restarted. But shutting down the whole computer? Come on. Is this still the 90's and no one told me?

Comments

# Vikram said on August 13, 2007 04:39 AM:

yes restart without my permission is not acceptable.

# Joop said on August 13, 2007 05:32 AM:

Then why dont you turn automatic updates off? You're most likely the one who enabled them in the first place, Windows is quite clear about the update options you have after its install is finished.

# David Taylor said on August 13, 2007 05:55 AM:

Yes, many computers stay on for weeks or months without a reboot and thus are still vulnerable.  I definately think the default should be for Microsoft to provide multiple prompts (if the user is logged on), but eventually force a reboot - but enable more technical users to change it to 'prompt when updates are available' if they don't want this default.

We really need operating systems secured for the 'average person' and then technical people change the defaults are required.

# foobar said on August 13, 2007 09:47 AM:

Psst...  Might wanna check out the Automatic Updates settings...  And actually read the options they give you...  And choose the one that suits your needs...

# Becky Cohen said on August 13, 2007 11:10 AM:

Hello Russ,

I apologize for posting this as a comment on your blog - I couldn't find a way to contact you directly.  My name is Becky Cohen and I am the Event Coordinator at SetFocus.  I manage the Northern NJ .NET User Group (N3UG) meetings held here at SetFocus Headquarters in Parsippany, NJ (about 35 minutes outside of NYC).  I see that you have spoken the NYC User Group Meeting and I was wondering if you would have any interest in presenting at one of our future User Group meetings?  We hold our meetings every 2nd Tuesday of every month.  If you would like to see more information on our group, please visit: www.setfocus.com/.../welcome.aspx

Please let me know if this is an opportunity that interests you and what your availability is like.  I would love to be able to schedule you for an upcoming meeting here in NJ!

Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Becky Cohen

# russnem said on August 13, 2007 11:24 AM:

I appreciate the sarcastic response, but as I'm sure you know, users don't always have control over that - especially on their work computers. All I'm saying is, if you're going to install an update at 3:00 in the morning, at least give me a little time to save my work. Maybe even tell me that a restart is required, too.

# Scott said on August 13, 2007 01:16 PM:

Look,the option is there to choose whether to automatically install updates or not...it's hardly MS's fault if your admin chooses to force this option. And you're telling me you leave your machine with unsaved information overnight...really??? If you don't like the auto restart then change your options (or tell your sys admin to change the group policy). But don't blame MS for keeping your machine secure after all the flak they took for not doing it! (And please, Apple fanboys don't even try to say OSX does it better I have a couple of Intel and PowerPC macs in my company and they're way more intrusive in this respect)

# some guy said on August 14, 2007 05:21 PM:

To the people who suggest configuring automatic updates correctly I ask what setting should I use? Currently I have "Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them" selected and have on more than one occasion run into the issue described in this post.

# PD said on October 1, 2007 06:33 PM:

My question for you is... why do you have unsaved docs on your work PC at 3am??  That's the worst idea ever.  Apparently you didn't feel that those documents were important enough to save before you left work.

The fact that you lost that work is 100% your fault.

# gfd said on April 12, 2008 08:46 AM:

i lost loads of work because i left the computer for a few mins.. its unacceptable.. im goin back to mac.. windows sucks balls

# MicrosoftRestartVictim said on July 24, 2008 02:55 AM:

I have the same problem and I have the automatic update setting set to automatic update at a certain time but my computer just updates whenever sometime with only a 10 min. warning.  What's the point of setting a time if it doesn't matter anyway?

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