My first Vista ka-boom!

[Ike]

Core Duo, VHP

I was working on a document when suddenly all applications shut
down, the screen went blue, and a banner said INSTALLING
UPDATES. That remained for five minutes or more. Then, the unit
rebooted and that took more than five minutes.

When I loaded Word, it took several minutes instead of the usual
3-4 seconds. Now, everything's fine, the work-in-process was
saved, etc. But it was an unpleasant surprise!

So... what empowers Vista to shut down spontaneously -
apparently to install updates? Is there some record of what
happened? Could there have been some security issue that
demanded instant updating?

I've really been happy with Vista, but didn't enjoy that
experience. Is there a radio button somewhere that I can UNcheck
to prevent autonomous update/reboot?

 

[Ian]

Mine does not do that, it downloads with not problem but in the background,
unlike XP.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Did it shut down while you were working or had you left at some point?
Usually there is some warning.
Some leave their computer and return to find it is rebooting or has
rebooted and the message was missed while they were gone.

Start/All Programs/Windows Update
On the left side click Change settings"
What is it set to?
You probably have the first checked but you probably want the 2nd or
3rd.
Set as desired.

 

[KristleBawl]

"the screen went blue, and a banner said INSTALLING UPDATES"

Scan for virus/trojan/worm/etc. would be my first step.

While working in an open application, the screen shouldn't change color like
that.

in message news:[email protected]...

 

[notaguru]

Windows Update was on Automatic -- I fixed that.

No virus or Trojan.


Thanks!

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

As you saw, automatic can be an issue for some.
Since you have now changed the settings, just be sure you get the
necessary updates installed regularly.
The first Tuesday of the month is the day the updates are released
making that a good time to look at what is available.

Also, updates may come out at other times if they are deemed important
enough.

You can also subscribe to update notifications from Microsoft.

 

[Adam Albright]

"the screen went blue, and a banner said INSTALLING UPDATES"

Scan for virus/trojan/worm/etc. would be my first step.

While working in an open application, the screen shouldn't change color like
that.

Page faults, other things STILL can cause a BSOF. Application hangs
are sometimes handled better, other times Vista just screws up. I'll
give you an example. I've used Sony's Vegas for years, I'm guessing it
has run thousands of hours and not once crashed. That's a stable
application. Now ever since I installed Vista the OS will claim
"application not responding" if I happen to hit a certain key
combination while Vegas may be doing some intensive page file
swapping. The screen fades to white and Vista pops a bogus application
not responding message, then several seconds later without me doing
anything the application resumes as if nothing happened confirming
there was really nothing wrong, aside from Vista being brain dead.

I've seen this with other stable applications like Agent, my news
reader. I've also seen what Ike reported. Windows has at least under
XP from my experience decided on it's own to simply shutdown and start
to install updates WITHOUT the usual confirmation screen. This of
course is a very serious BUG if the OS kills running applications
which again it did with me running Vegas which was nearing the end of
a long render, it has 12 hours into it, was about 98% done, I come
back from a break and see damn Windows had rebooted without my
permission and in the process trashed the render I had invested 12
hours in. I did follow up on this with some knuckleheads at Microsoft
and got the usual run around and the usual claims Windows wouldn't do
that.

 

[Karen Jane Panze]

Oh my computer doesn't do that. We all can say My computer doesn't do that.
How about a solution? Or is that the best you can do? Just FYI.

 

[Guest]

The updates are released on the SECOND Tuesday of each month, not the first!

Tsk, tsk, Jupiter! And you are an MVP!

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Of course you are correct.
I knew it and somehow still did it wrong.
Thanks for the correction.