I don't want Microsoft Update to shut down my computer!

Good, Lord! Whose idea was this?

Twice now I have lost work because Microsoft has decided that Microsoft
Update should:

a) automatically shut down my machine unless I intervene.
b) give the user 5 minutes to close/save any work before shut down (unless
the user is present to press cancel)
c) perform this automatic shut down in the middle of the night when we're
asleep or away from the office!

Last night my computer was running unattended as it does most nights. I was
in the middle of a 16 hour render on an effect in my video edit system when
Microsoft shut down my machine to perform one of their updates!

All that work was lost. And I'm now a day behind on a tight deadline!
Thanks, Redmond.

Last month I had several hours of work into editing a word document that had
been emailed to me. My mistake, though I had saved it several times, it was
saving to the Temp folder since I opened the file directly from Outlook.
Again, Microsoft shuts down machine in the middle of the night and I lost 4
hours worth of research! The Temp directory no longer held this document.

As the user, I was never asked if I wanted to accept this change. But all
my computers (home, work, laptop) now function this way. I certainly did not
enable it, nor would I ever agree to this.

Again, whose idea was this? What committee met for 18 months and decided
this was better than the previous method? What was wrong with prompting the
user to install updates or holding them until the next shut down?

How do I return to the previous method? If I change Automatic Updates so
that it downloads, but then lets me decide when to install Microsoft One Care
squeels like a frightened pig.

Why, why, why?
Dan Humiston

On Thu, 15 Mar 2007 05:04:02 -0700, Dan Humiston
<> wrote:

>Last night my computer was running unattended as it does most nights. I was
>in the middle of a 16 hour render on an effect in my video edit system when
>Microsoft shut down my machine to perform one of their updates!
>
>All that work was lost. And I'm now a day behind on a tight deadline!
>Thanks, Redmond.

Turn off Automatic updates and do them manually on or after "update
Tuesday" each month. Update Tuesday is the second Tuesday of the
month. Doing them manually may not be an option if your company won't
permit it, but it sure would have eliminated your problem in this
case.

--
Zilbandy

'Prevent Reboot' from Nov 7, 2006 issue of "PC Magazine" - page 135.

Edit the registry; open regedit - expand
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Win dows. Right-click on
Windows and select New\Key with your left mouse. Type WindowsUpdate and
press Enter to create a new folder.
Now right-click on that folder and create another new key, this one named AU
and press Enter. (AU stands for AutoUpdate). Turn to the right-hand pane,
where an entry reads (Default); right-click on the white space and select
New DWORD Value. Enter the string NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers, and press
Enter. Nowq double-click that entry and change the Value Data to a 1, with
the Base button of Hexadecimal selected. Click on File | Exit and reboot.

Windows will now not ever force a reboot.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Humiston" <>
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsupdate
Sent: Thursday, 15 March, 2007 05:04
Subject: I don't want Microsoft Update to shut down my computer!

"Dan Humiston" <> wrote in message
news:3CC383A0-863D-4736-993D-...
> Good, Lord! Whose idea was this?
>
> Twice now I have lost work because Microsoft has decided that Microsoft
> Update should:
>
> a) automatically shut down my machine unless I intervene.
> b) give the user 5 minutes to close/save any work before shut down (unless
> the user is present to press cancel)
> c) perform this automatic shut down in the middle of the night when we're
> asleep or away from the office!
>
> Last night my computer was running unattended as it does most nights. I
> was
> in the middle of a 16 hour render on an effect in my video edit system
> when
> Microsoft shut down my machine to perform one of their updates!
>
> All that work was lost. And I'm now a day behind on a tight deadline!
> Thanks, Redmond.
>
> Last month I had several hours of work into editing a word document that
> had
> been emailed to me. My mistake, though I had saved it several times, it
> was
> saving to the Temp folder since I opened the file directly from Outlook.
> Again, Microsoft shuts down machine in the middle of the night and I lost
> 4
> hours worth of research! The Temp directory no longer held this document.
>
> As the user, I was never asked if I wanted to accept this change. But all
> my computers (home, work, laptop) now function this way. I certainly did
> not
> enable it, nor would I ever agree to this.
>
> Again, whose idea was this? What committee met for 18 months and decided
> this was better than the previous method? What was wrong with prompting
> the
> user to install updates or holding them until the next shut down?
>
> How do I return to the previous method? If I change Automatic Updates so
> that it downloads, but then lets me decide when to install Microsoft One
> Care
> squeels like a frightened pig.
>
> Why, why, why?
> Dan Humiston

Thanks, Zilbrandy. I tried it and Windows Live OneCare had a hissy fit. The
icon on the system tray turns red and pronounces "Windows Live OneCare needs
your attention" and frequent and regular intervals. It would work for others
though...

Dan

"Zilbandy" wrote:

> On Thu, 15 Mar 2007 05:04:02 -0700, Dan Humiston
> <> wrote:
>
> >Last night my computer was running unattended as it does most nights. I was
> >in the middle of a 16 hour render on an effect in my video edit system when
> >Microsoft shut down my machine to perform one of their updates!
> >
> >All that work was lost. And I'm now a day behind on a tight deadline!
> >Thanks, Redmond.
>
> Turn off Automatic updates and do them manually on or after "update
> Tuesday" each month. Update Tuesday is the second Tuesday of the
> month. Doing them manually may not be an option if your company won't
> permit it, but it sure would have eliminated your problem in this
> case.
>
> --
> Zilbandy
>

WooHoo! Thanks for digging that up! I've made the change. My guess is that
should do the trick.

My first registry edit. I've taken my first step into a larger world.
Still, I shouldn't have to edit the registry to fix a very silly update
policy.

Thanks, Jerry!
Dan Humiston

"Jerry" wrote:

> 'Prevent Reboot' from Nov 7, 2006 issue of "PC Magazine" - page 135.
>
> Edit the registry; open regedit - expand
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Win dows. Right-click on
> Windows and select New\Key with your left mouse. Type WindowsUpdate and
> press Enter to create a new folder.
> Now right-click on that folder and create another new key, this one named AU
> and press Enter. (AU stands for AutoUpdate). Turn to the right-hand pane,
> where an entry reads (Default); right-click on the white space and select
> New DWORD Value. Enter the string NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers, and press
> Enter. Nowq double-click that entry and change the Value Data to a 1, with
> the Base button of Hexadecimal selected. Click on File | Exit and reboot.
>
> Windows will now not ever force a reboot.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dan Humiston" <>
> Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsupdate
> Sent: Thursday, 15 March, 2007 05:04
> Subject: I don't want Microsoft Update to shut down my computer!
>
> "Dan Humiston" <> wrote in message
> news:3CC383A0-863D-4736-993D-...
> > Good, Lord! Whose idea was this?
> >
> > Twice now I have lost work because Microsoft has decided that Microsoft
> > Update should:
> >
> > a) automatically shut down my machine unless I intervene.
> > b) give the user 5 minutes to close/save any work before shut down (unless
> > the user is present to press cancel)
> > c) perform this automatic shut down in the middle of the night when we're
> > asleep or away from the office!
> >
> > Last night my computer was running unattended as it does most nights. I
> > was
> > in the middle of a 16 hour render on an effect in my video edit system
> > when
> > Microsoft shut down my machine to perform one of their updates!
> >
> > All that work was lost. And I'm now a day behind on a tight deadline!
> > Thanks, Redmond.
> >
> > Last month I had several hours of work into editing a word document that
> > had
> > been emailed to me. My mistake, though I had saved it several times, it
> > was
> > saving to the Temp folder since I opened the file directly from Outlook.
> > Again, Microsoft shuts down machine in the middle of the night and I lost
> > 4
> > hours worth of research! The Temp directory no longer held this document.
> >
> > As the user, I was never asked if I wanted to accept this change. But all
> > my computers (home, work, laptop) now function this way. I certainly did
> > not
> > enable it, nor would I ever agree to this.
> >
> > Again, whose idea was this? What committee met for 18 months and decided
> > this was better than the previous method? What was wrong with prompting
> > the
> > user to install updates or holding them until the next shut down?
> >
> > How do I return to the previous method? If I change Automatic Updates so
> > that it downloads, but then lets me decide when to install Microsoft One
> > Care
> > squeels like a frightened pig.
> >
> > Why, why, why?
> > Dan Humiston
>
>
>