Arggg - How do I disable Automatic Restart after download

[Th]

Hello,
I am new here. I generally leave my computer on and occassionaly I will come
back to my pc after 5 minutes having been working on important documentation
and find that an automatic update has occured and my pc has restarted. I then
lose valuable data - end up cursing and generally it ruins the rest of my
day. I am sure the Microsoft guys get a kick out of ruining people's days but
HOW DO I DISABLE AN AUTOMATIC RESTART! McAfee requests that I restart - so
how do I do the same for my Microsoft restart. I am fearing for the safety of
my PC because this is driving me to madness.

 

[R. McCarty]

The easiest solution is to modify Automatic Updates action from
Automatic to Notify. This way when new updates are available
you'll only get the Security Shield ( Yellow ) notification in the tray.
It WILL BE up to you to initiate the download/installs and not
miss applying necessary patches. Also Updates ( besides the
definitions for Windows Defender ) appear on specific days of
the month.

You can make the change with the Automatic Updates applet in
Control Panel ( Classic View ).

 

[John John (MVP)]

Hello,
I am new here. I generally leave my computer on and occassionaly I will come
back to my pc after 5 minutes having been working on important documentation
and find that an automatic update has occured and my pc has restarted. I then
lose valuable data - end up cursing and generally it ruins the rest of my
day. I am sure the Microsoft guys get a kick out of ruining people's days but
HOW DO I DISABLE AN AUTOMATIC RESTART! McAfee requests that I restart - so
how do I do the same for my Microsoft restart. I am fearing for the safety of
my PC because this is driving me to madness.

You can change your Windows Update Group Policy settings to change
the reboot/auto-nag behaviour.

For Windows XP Professional:

Click Start | Run | type gpedit.msc and click OK or press enter.

Look in:

Local Computer Policy | Computer Configuration | Administrative
Templates | Windows Components | Windows Update

For Windows XP Home you will have to do a manual registry edit at:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU

Edit Reg_DWORD entry name: NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers

Range = 0|1;

1 = Logged-on user gets to choose whether or not to restart his or her
computer.

0 = Automatic Updates notifies user that the computer will restart in 5
minutes.

See:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc708449.aspx

John