Unwanted restart for updates

[McSwell]

I had a bad experience today--I was doing a PowerPoint presentation,
and I looked down at my laptop--only to a Windows dialog box
announcing that it was going to restart so it could install updates!
It was counting down to a restart in a couple minutes; there were two
buttons, one for "Restart now", and one for "Restart later"--but the
latter was grayed out!

Needless to say, my presentation was broken up while we waited for
Windows to re-boot, log me back in, start PowerPoint back up, open the
file I was showing, and scroll down to where I had left off. I
managed to ad lib while all this was going on, and I had enough time
for the talk (it would have demolished a standard 20 minute talk).

This is unacceptable. The only warning I had was that the machine was
excruciatingly slow for several minutes before this.

I don't suppose there's any solution to this? short of jumping ship
to Linux, at least for giving talks.

Mike Maxwell
CASL/ U MD

 

[Austin Myers]

The reason the wait option was grayed out is that you must tell it how long
to wait. I hate to say this but the solution to this ANNOYING interruption
is to turn off "Automatic Updates" and do them manually when it fits in your
schedule.


Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

Provider of PFCPro, PFCMedia and PFCExpress
www.playsforcertain.com

 

[Echo S]

I am amazed at Microsoft's arrogance, though -- why in the world would they
allow something like that to show up when PPT is in slide show view? I mean,
being in that view suppresses Outlook mail notifications and stuff, so why
not updates, too?

Screen savers kicking in because of IT locking down systems is another that
just galls me. Those should be overridden.

 

[McSwell]

The reason the wait option was grayed out is that you must tell it how long
to wait.

I can't remember exactly what the dlg box looked like (I was rather
upset at the time!), but I do seem to recall there was a countdown
number. So you're saying that if I had typed in some large number (60
minutes or something), that it would have allowed me to finish my
presentation before it rebooted? Sigh... I guess that wasn't
intuitively obvious, at least not in my state (standing in front of an
audience isn't always conducive to clear thinking).

Maybe in some future version of Windows, there could be a button that
says, in large letters "WAIT!!! Not now!" (or some such )

I hate to say this but the solution to this ANNOYING interruption
is to turn off "Automatic Updates" and do them manually when it fits in your
schedule.

On this laptop, I happen to have an administrator account, so I guess
I could have done that. But our company often gives us laptops for
conferences for which we don't have admin accounts. Guess I'll have
to tell them.

Thanks for the answers--

Mike Maxwell
CASL/ U MD

 

[Austin Myers]

Sorry the answers were less than hoped for.



Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

Provider of PFCPro, PFCMedia and PFCExpress
www.playsforcertain.com

 

[Austin Myers]

In Vista at least, if you have auto updates running it will interrupt
anything your doing. Very ANNOYING.


Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

Provider of PFCPro, PFCMedia and PFCExpress
www.playsforcertain.com

I am amazed at Microsoft's arrogance, though -- why in the world would they
allow something like that to show up when PPT is in slide show view? I
mean, being in that view suppresses Outlook mail notifications and stuff,
so why not updates, too?

Screen savers kicking in because of IT locking down systems is another
that just galls me. Those should be overridden.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx

The reason the wait option was grayed out is that you must tell it how
long to wait. I hate to say this but the solution to this ANNOYING
interruption is to turn off "Automatic Updates" and do them manually when
it fits in your schedule.


Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

Provider of PFCPro, PFCMedia and PFCExpress
www.playsforcertain.com

 

[Echo S]

Annoying is quite the understatement.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx

In Vista at least, if you have auto updates running it will interrupt
anything your doing. Very ANNOYING.


Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

Provider of PFCPro, PFCMedia and PFCExpress
www.playsforcertain.com

I am amazed at Microsoft's arrogance, though -- why in the world would
they allow something like that to show up when PPT is in slide show view?
I mean, being in that view suppresses Outlook mail notifications and
stuff, so why not updates, too?

Screen savers kicking in because of IT locking down systems is another
that just galls me. Those should be overridden.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx

The reason the wait option was grayed out is that you must tell it how
long to wait. I hate to say this but the solution to this ANNOYING
interruption is to turn off "Automatic Updates" and do them manually
when it fits in your schedule.


Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

Provider of PFCPro, PFCMedia and PFCExpress
www.playsforcertain.com


I had a bad experience today--I was doing a PowerPoint presentation,
and I looked down at my laptop--only to a Windows dialog box
announcing that it was going to restart so it could install updates!
It was counting down to a restart in a couple minutes; there were two
buttons, one for "Restart now", and one for "Restart later"--but the
latter was grayed out!

Needless to say, my presentation was broken up while we waited for
Windows to re-boot, log me back in, start PowerPoint back up, open the
file I was showing, and scroll down to where I had left off. I
managed to ad lib while all this was going on, and I had enough time
for the talk (it would have demolished a standard 20 minute talk).

This is unacceptable. The only warning I had was that the machine was
excruciatingly slow for several minutes before this.

I don't suppose there's any solution to this? short of jumping ship
to Linux, at least for giving talks.

Mike Maxwell
CASL/ U MD

 

[McSwell]

Sorry the answers were less than hoped for.

Well, I can't blame you for the problem! Thank you for the answers.

All I can say is, I hope Microsoft reads this. It is a show-stopper,
both literally and figuratively.

Mike Maxwell
CASL/ U MD