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Why, oh why?
The other night my computer rebooted due to an update from Microsoft. This was a bit annoying as I'd left some test cases up running overnight.
I'm still unclear on why there is no option to automatically download an update without installing it under Windows XP. It seems you can either turn off updates and do everything manually, or have it update automatically and randomly reset your computer. Very annoying.
2 comments
It’s not quite that bad. The default, of course, is annoying for those who run things overnight, but good for amateurs. I’ve been caught out a few times after rebuilding a machine (or having a machine rebuilt) with some un-saved temporary changes open in an editor where I had left off in my thoughts at end-of-day, and coming back the next day to find it gone due to the automatic update reset.
There are four options, though, and you can get at them via Control Panel/Security Center/Automatic Updates. They are:
1) Automatic (which includes resetting the machine)
2) Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them
3) Notify me but don’t automatically download or install them
4) Turn off Automatic Updates
Number two is my favourite, and I do think it will be yours as well :)
Well, that does more or less answer the question up at the top. I don’t know why “download and reset” is the default though. It’d make far more sense to me to use that little notification icon to say “I need to reboot to finish installing this” rather than doing it without any intervention.
