Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Microsoft, Freeware
Temporarily turn off Windows Update restart nags using Leave Me Alone!
by Jason Clarke Jun 25th 2008
Since you want your computer to be as secure as it can possibly be, you have Windows set to automatically install updates as soon as they're available, right? Well, if you do, you will have noticed that Windows can be pretty pushy about wanting to restart. In fact, it will pop up a reminder every 10 minutes until you finally give in, or worse, accidentally press the space bar when the update dialog pops up and initiate a restart at the exact wrong time.
To avoid this annoying situation, check out Brad Isaac's free utility called Leave Me Alone! Leave Me Alone! allows you to temporarily turn off the restart nag window until you actually do restart. This allows you to finish what you were doing and choose when to restart, rather than being bullied into restarting at the least convenient time.
Leave Me Alone! works on both Windows XP and Windows Vista.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Peter said 11:28AM on 6-25-2008
This is a VERY bad idea. During the time between when updates are installed and the machine is rebooted, it is in an unstable state. You should either reboot as soon as the updates are completed, or postpone the entire update process until a more convenient time.
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James said 12:08PM on 6-25-2008
Source? I've never had a single problem running my machine after an update (but before a reboot), and I've never even heard such a suggestion.
My personal solution is to drag the nag box to the bottom of the screen, until only the top pixel or two of the title bar is showing. Not perfect, but it gets the job done.
Don't know why you'd want this on Vista, though -- AFAIK, the "reboot please" box has the option to hide it for either a very long time (12 hours?) or forever. I can't remember which, but I remember being pleasantly surprised at my options the first time it popped up on my new Vista system.
Peter said 6:50PM on 6-25-2008
James - The reason is that 99% of the time when Windows tells you it needs to reboot, it's because files need to be updated/replaced that are currently in use. That means some of the files in the update have been changed and some have not.
It makes the system unstable because file versions are not what the system is expecting. One new file might be passing parameters or values an old file can't deal with. If that causes the system to lock up or blue screen and you have to hard boot it, then you're going to be in an even more unstable state since any other processes that need to complete as part of the update might not.
It's just not worth the risk. The simple solution is not to initiate updates when a reboot is inconvenient.
(Here is a post from a MS engineer about why you shouldn't delay reboots too long. This is NOT my source, but I've read the same guidance from MS in other places.)
http://www.codeproject.com/script/Forums/View.aspx?fid=1159&msg=1254952
Ozor said 11:33AM on 6-25-2008
You could just type "net stop wuauserv" at the command prompt. This also disables the restart reminder.
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booticon said 11:37AM on 6-25-2008
Oh sweet *jesus*.
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robotrock said 11:38AM on 6-25-2008
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/04/14/get-rid-of-the-windows-update-reboot-nag/
Do this instead.
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Loodac said 1:11PM on 6-25-2008
Or go to Control panel->Services, find Automatic Updates, right click on it and select stop. Then just restart your computer when you want. Service will start automatically after reboot.
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WinterTiger said 5:11PM on 6-25-2008
Not to nitpick, but like James said, Vista lets you hide the restart reminder for four hours at a time. I agree that if it appears in the middle of something it can be frustrating if you hit enter or otherwise active the DEFAULT restart button. I think a good solution is simply make the default button the postpone for x hours option. And make x twelve or more hours... I just turn off Auto Updates when I'm doing something important.
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