The Author – Bart Busschots
Creative Commons
Unless otherwise stated, the content on this site is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution, Noncommercial, No Derivative Works 3.0 License
Aug
15
Another Reason Microsoft Update Sucks
Filed Under Computers & Tech on August 15, 2006 at 3:29 pm
I've already explained that I think the fact that MS update lies to you is very bad HCI well the other day it did something at least as bad if not worse. Without my permission it rebooted by machine while I was out at lunch. Excuse me MS Update but how could you possibly know that I was not doing something very important over lunch? How could you know that I hadn't got unsaved work? How could you know that there was not someone depending on a shared resource on my machine? I don't think it's acceptable for an automated updated process to take it upon itself to reboot your machine without asking you first. Basically, I tell my computer what to do, it should not be the other way round!
[tags]Microsoft, Windows, HCI[/tags]
http://blogs.wdevs.com/ColinAngusMackay/archive/2005/10/16/10858.aspx
Thats a guide on how to stop that from happening.
Or alternatively….
1) regedit
2) Goto HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU
3) Add the following setting:
NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers
And set it to 1
Then in a couple of weeks I expect to see you complaining about your computer being riddled with virii 🙂
TBH I all I want is for it to pop up a little window asking do I want to reboot now or later like Windows Update used to do and every other OS I’ve ever used does do.
To use your conversation model for HCI the current behavious is: “you must reboot now” where as the actualy behaviour should be “I need a reboot to make you more secure, can I do it now or would you like to finish what you’re doing first”.
yea I noticed the forced reboot thing. if you click you want to reboot later, it asks you again and again, each time with a timer. very very annoying
Well if you actually saw what happened while you were at lunch, the conversation actually goes like this
Do you want to reboot now Yes/Later?
Do you want to reboot now Yes/Later?
Do you want to reboot now Yes/Later?
Windows will reboot your computer in 5 minutes if you do not answer…
5,4,3,2,1,
[5 minutes later]
Reboot.
True … but still not so much a conversation as an executed demand. There was no user feed back waited for. It’s pretty band when you can’t leave your windows machine un-babysitted for 5 mins in case of a forced reboot but but I presume Windows server does not pull this kind of stunt …. right?
Uhm, Des Traynor is correct. And, who on their right mind would leave their computer for lunch, without saving, if you were in fact doing something important?
h0bble, you are right that no one in their right mind would leave their PC with unsaved work over lunch. However, it is not unknown for me to get dragged out of my office for 5 mins by my boss or a visitor in reception and in that situation I may not actually remember to save. People leave their computers and short of a powercut you expect to find it as you left it. Perhaps with some dialogues looking for your attention but certainly not rebooted!
Ok, thats fair enough. Do the NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers trick then, but I agree that it should be an option and not a “hidden” registry setting.
Incidentally , if the applications are well written, Microsoft sends them a clean close signal afaik, so they will save and exit. This will cause problems though, if for example you were tinkering with a file, and removed a method, but didn’t intend to save, and then got dragged out of the office for 5 minutes, *just* as the 5 minute time out started, then you’d be fucked.
But if you’re the sort of person that those things happen too, you’re better off not going near a computer.
Real world guys. People have better things to do with their lives and computers than to make excuses for vendors who think their app is the most important thing going. I routinely gather information or run processes or apps for 8 hours at a stretch or more. I really dont need to sit there all 8 hours just to make sure MS doesn’t screw the pooch by “saving me from myself”. I make sure my users PCs are restarted on a regular basis and most people do it anyway.
My users don’t need the aggrevation either. And yes this process does loose or screw up data even if the shut down command is clean.
Des may be better off staying out of IT.
I had important data that MS destroyed with its so-called update. It re-booted my machine without my permission, What gives Microsoft the right to take over my machine and destroy my work?
Get used to it. We allow roadside check points, drug dogs at schools and search without probable cause everday and society has become used to it…we’re sheep. Given all of this, Microsoft probably doesn’t even think their updates are intrusive. If you knew the info they were gathering from your pc it would make your head spin. So, go back to sleep and don’t forget your appointment at 3:30. You’re having an RFI chip places in your arm at the clinic.
I don’t use Windows anymore, so I have no need to get used to Microsoft’s crappiness! Thank goodness for Linux and the Mac!
Bart.
Honestly, this is one of those “omg can microsoft really be that stupid” kinda things. I have no idea what possessed them to do this. Whats even more completely mind blowing is the fact that programs (unsaved) cant even stop the process once started and starting is even automatic. This has been responsible for countless hours of work lost (especialliy considering the average shutdown on my computer is about 45 minutes). I had a 3d rendering for a client that auto update killed. I lost the time (4.5 days) of rendering time, and I lost the client. If I could I would sue Microsoft for the losses but i’m sure I could not afford it. Windows 7 is better than xp imho but its still a pos. Unfortunately the tools I need exist only on PC so i’m kinda screwed (i have traditionally been a mac user). None the less, you can do as some others have posted but for the unknowing (like I was) you can shake your fist in helpless rage and have all your words land on deaf ears. It’s a miserable new world out there. We really are all just numbers in the end. Sadly the numbers just don’t matter… like the post above, we are all just sheep. I tried to file a complaint to microsoft and after 25 minutes of looking on their site for anywhere I could get an email, name, tel number or whatever (more wasted time) i gave up.
Windows Update is so incompetent on so many levels. Unintrusive? WUP is the opposite: constant bubbles telling you that updates are available ALL the time. Seamless? How about having to restart IN THE MIDDLE OF AN UPDATING PROCESS only to start the updates again, then begin another painstaking second restore point creation and risk every bit of data: Just happened to me. Easy? Yeah, if you put it on automatic — otherwise, you’re stuck between Windows offering “important” and “optional” updates, “optional” meaning, “just useless drivers that work with your new updates configuration even though the older ones don’t”. So CHECK THE LIST becomes a greater priority than even in a full FreeBSD Ports update, because WUP tends to require FAR MORE RESTARTS.
Fast? Puh-leez. 2 hours and counting for .NET security updates, 11 updates left. And with the CRAP updates GUI they have, that’s so uninformative it doesn’t even have a progress bar for individual updates (and if the name is long, MS thinks you don’t need to read it), you might get 5 pounds fatter just from the stress you get by that stupid, stuck green line. Not to mention it only gives the stupidest information regarding system updates, like, “this update improves security”… yeah, an admin’s dream. Of course, good admins need to type a key in the MS website just to know what the update was for. Then do the checklist selection, then do the update/restart process. Very productive…
Of course, this doesn’t even mention the plethora of update tools the user must install and get running for Adobe, for java, for Apple, for Google, for Whatsnajuvia;lskdjf… Sigh. WUP sucks, period.