Windows Updates.

[Johnny]

Why doesn't Windows Update use my settings?

I have Download Updates but let me choose whether to install them, but
when I shut down my computer, I'm told not to turn off the computer,
because Windows is installing updates.

 

[jbm]

Why doesn't Windows Update use my settings?

I have Download Updates but let me choose whether to install them, but
when I shut down my computer, I'm told not to turn off the computer,
because Windows is installing updates.

You're lucky! I've got the same settings as you, and get exactly the
same close down message on a regular basis. But at times the whole
system goes off on a complete tangent and just closes down while I'm in
the middle of something and installs the updates there and then. No
warning, no notification. How the hell do you stop it doing that?

jim

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

You're lucky! I've got the same settings as you, and get exactly the
same close down message on a regular basis. But at times the whole
system goes off on a complete tangent and just closes down while I'm in
the middle of something and installs the updates there and then. No
warning, no notification. How the hell do you stop it doing that?

jim

I am happier with "Notify me and let me choose when to download and
install" them.

So far (years and years), no surprises. But the owner of the computer
next to mine has configured Windows 7 to automatically D/L and install
updates, and has had no sudden reboots (so far), just the "please wait"
messages, but those are expected in that case.

I am wondering if Windows or Microsoft has a personal vendetta against
you two

BTW, jbm, what MS is doing is installing (without your permission)
updates that require a reboot and then rebooting (again, without your
permission). I imagine you knew that.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I am happier with "Notify me and let me choose when to download and
install" them.

So far (years and years), no surprises. But the owner of the computer
next to mine has configured Windows 7 to automatically D/L and install
updates, and has had no sudden reboots (so far), just the "please wait"
messages, but those are expected in that case.

I am wondering if Windows or Microsoft has a personal vendetta against
you two

BTW, jbm, what MS is doing is installing (without your permission)
updates that require a reboot and then rebooting (again, without your
permission). I imagine you knew that.

A new thought: if you never normally restart or turn off your computer,
maybe Windows gets antsy and has this strong urge to restart.

The people here are of the "turn it off when I'm not using it" school...

 

[mick]

I am happier with "Notify me and let me choose when to download and
install" them.

best way IMO, computers let loose with doing their own thing are far
too dangerous and inferior to my methodical way of doing things

 

[mick]

A new thought: if you never normally restart or turn off your computer,
maybe Windows gets antsy and has this strong urge to restart.

The people here are of the "turn it off when I'm not using it" school...

That's me and I have never had one fail by doing that. Had one a few
years ago that if left on for a few days it leaked memory and became
very sluggish and needed rebooting to bring it back to strength.
Also noticed that my present machine is nearly as slow waking up as it
is starting up from a cold boot.

 

[Johnny]

You're lucky! I've got the same settings as you, and get exactly the
same close down message on a regular basis. But at times the whole
system goes off on a complete tangent and just closes down while I'm in
the middle of something and installs the updates there and then. No
warning, no notification. How the hell do you stop it doing that?

jim

I found a way to stop it if you have a firewall. Block Host Process for
Windows Services.

I have never found out why Microsoft needs 21 connections to my computer.

 

[Good Guy]

I found a way to stop it if you have a firewall. Block Host Process
for Windows Services.

I have never found out why Microsoft needs 21 connections to my computer.

Microsoft needs to know what the heck you are up to. Also, MS is
developing its search engine to rival Google's, so it needs to know your
browsing habits.

Bing is a complete flop so far.

 

[Steve Hayes]

Why doesn't Windows Update use my settings?

I've discovered it changed my settings.

I was staying at a hotel in Botswana a couple of weeks ago, using their free
WiFi to write my blog, when the lights went off momentarily. Windows had also
chose that moment to update itself.

My laptop carried on working, but when the lights came on again, the internet
connection was gone.

It was still gone the next morning, when we left town, and none of the credit
card machines were working either, so I thought it might be a more widespread
telecommunications failure.

When I got home my WiFi booster didn't seem to be working properly -- it has a
blue light that flashes, but the light was steady, and the WiFi signal showed
as weak. So I assumed that the WiFi booster had died, and I'd have to get a
new one.

It was about a week before I discovered what had really happened -- I was
working in a different place, and didn't plug in the wireless booster, yet it
showed that I was connected to the Internet.

I investigated more closely and discovered that the settings on my computer
had changed to use the internal wireless connector rather than the external
booster.

I can only assume that Windows had done that when it decided to update itself.

So I have the same question: why doesn't Windows update use my settings
instead of messing with them?

 

[John Morrison]

A new thought: if you never normally restart or turn off your computer,
maybe Windows gets antsy and has this strong urge to restart.

The people here are of the "turn it off when I'm not using it" school...

I reckon you've nailed it on the head there.
I belong to the above mentioned school, I close down at bedtime and
startup when I get out of cot in the morning without updates problems.

 

[Bob Henson]

A new thought: if you never normally restart or turn off your computer,
maybe Windows gets antsy and has this strong urge to restart.

The people here are of the "turn it off when I'm not using it" school...

I have never turned any of mine off, I set them to do full virus scans,
defrags, total backups etc during different nights of the week. I let it do
Windows Updates too, of course, and set the time for 3.00 am - it restarts
automatically if it needs to, and I've never had any trouble with any one
of my machines, past or present. I once had a problem with XP, but that was
my own fault because I stopped an update halfway through. Maybe I'm just
very lucky in that regard?

 

[Bob Henson]

I've discovered it changed my settings.

I was staying at a hotel in Botswana a couple of weeks ago, using their free
WiFi to write my blog, when the lights went off momentarily. Windows had also
chose that moment to update itself.

So I have the same question: why doesn't Windows update use my settings
instead of messing with them?

I think you may have answered your own question, Steve - the momentary
power-out probably did it. As I just mentioned in another post, the only
time I had a problem with an update was when I interrupted one half way
through. Mind you, I was talking desktops in the other message, I don't
allow my laptop to update until I'm ready and can leave it totally
uninterrupted for a while - but a power failure would cause chaos, hence
Windows warning not to do updates on battery power. If mains power goes, of
course, there's nothing one can do.

--
Bob
Tetbury, Gloucestershire, England

The light at the end of the tunnel is probably the headlights of an
oncoming train!

 

[Steve Hayes]

I think you may have answered your own question, Steve - the momentary
power-out probably did it. As I just mentioned in another post, the only
time I had a problem with an update was when I interrupted one half way
through. Mind you, I was talking desktops in the other message, I don't
allow my laptop to update until I'm ready and can leave it totally
uninterrupted for a while - but a power failure would cause chaos, hence
Windows warning not to do updates on battery power. If mains power goes, of
course, there's nothing one can do.

But if the update were interrupted, why would it change the device settings to
use a different device to access the internet, and one which didn't work
because it was too far from the router?

 

[Paul]

I think you may have answered your own question, Steve - the momentary
power-out probably did it. As I just mentioned in another post, the only
time I had a problem with an update was when I interrupted one half way
through. Mind you, I was talking desktops in the other message, I don't
allow my laptop to update until I'm ready and can leave it totally
uninterrupted for a while - but a power failure would cause chaos, hence
Windows warning not to do updates on battery power. If mains power goes, of
course, there's nothing one can do.

If mains power goes, you have your UPS!

I doubt my UPS would last through some of the larger Windows Updates.
I did one for Windows 8 the other day, that took a while to complete.
And I expect the battery in the UPS would have run flat, before
it completed.

But still, a UPS is better than nothing, on a desktop.
It helps avoid damage to file systems.

When booted into WinXP, I have WinXP set up, to do an orderly
shutdown, when the UPS says it is running out of juice. When
booted into Windows 8, I haven't set that up yet. I've never
had it trigger on WinXP, because I'm usually around to shut
it down manually. The UPS has a data cable, that indicates
status, and can send a code to indicate "shutdown in two minutes".

Paul

 

[Bob Henson]

But if the update were interrupted, why would it change the device settings to
use a different device to access the internet, and one which didn't work
because it was too far from the router?

Actually, we're talking about two different possibilities. If I'm reading
what you said correctly, your "booster" had dropped out and locked up. In
those circumstances your laptop would default to the internal Wifi
connection after the power out. That may or may not have been due to the
interrupted Windows update - but it would happen anyway if the external
device had locked or dropped out. Strange and somewhat random things happen
during interrupted updates, so it might have been that (it could, for
example, have corrupted the drivers for your external "booster") - but I'm
guessing it was more than likely just the power out that did it.

To illustrate - I've got three possibilities with mine - the internal
802.11g chipset, a small 802.11n USB adaptor and a larger 802.11n one with
an external aerial. I bought the latter because the small "n" was
borderline anywhere more than a couple of feet from the router and the
laptop just defaulted to the internal one at random if the signal level
dropped too low - it didn't need a power cut. Similarly, just removing my
"booster" adaptor from the USB port causes the system to default to
internal. So a power cut, could easily cause that to happen - whether or
not assisted by the interrupted Windows update.

 

[Wolf K]

You're lucky! I've got the same settings as you, and get exactly the
same close down message on a regular basis. But at times the whole
system goes off on a complete tangent and just closes down while I'm in
the middle of something and installs the updates there and then. No
warning, no notification. How the hell do you stop it doing that?

jim

Turn of Updates, and do it manually once a week or so. If you have good
anti-malware, the delay in patching security holes poses minimal risk. A
truly serious exploit will mess with your machine long before MS figures
out a patch.

HTH

 

[Bob Henson]

If mains power goes, you have your UPS!

I doubt my UPS would last through some of the larger Windows Updates.
I did one for Windows 8 the other day, that took a while to complete.
And I expect the battery in the UPS would have run flat, before
it completed.

But still, a UPS is better than nothing, on a desktop.
It helps avoid damage to file systems.

When booted into WinXP, I have WinXP set up, to do an orderly
shutdown, when the UPS says it is running out of juice. When
booted into Windows 8, I haven't set that up yet. I've never
had it trigger on WinXP, because I'm usually around to shut
it down manually. The UPS has a data cable, that indicates
status, and can send a code to indicate "shutdown in two minutes".

Paul

I've never got round to an UPS, and they took them out of our systems we
used to have at work because they caused more trouble than they saved -
they failed more often than any computer. However, I'm sure that modern
ones are much better, and as you describe yours, much more sophisticated -
there were no data connections on our old ones, for example. Capacity, as
you rightly say, is usually the problem - anything big enough to be much
use is prohibitively expensive and prohibitively large too.

--
Bob
Tetbury, Gloucestershire, England

I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather did - not screaming and
yelling like the passengers in his car.

 

[Paul]

I've never got round to an UPS, and they took them out of our systems we
used to have at work because they caused more trouble than they saved -
they failed more often than any computer. However, I'm sure that modern
ones are much better, and as you describe yours, much more sophisticated -
there were no data connections on our old ones, for example. Capacity, as
you rightly say, is usually the problem - anything big enough to be much
use is prohibitively expensive and prohibitively large too.

I got excellent life from the battery in my UPS. I changed
out the battery for the first time this year (Jan 2013).
The unit was purchased Feb 2002, according to the receipt.
That's nothing short of amazing. It should not have
lasted that long.

When buying a UPS, stay away from the "lowest tier" of
products. We bought on price at work, and 10% of the
units received, were malfunctioning one way or another,
out of the box. Just to give some idea how bad they
can be. We bought a batch of 100 or so at the time.

There is a backgrounder here, if you want to know something
about the various types you can buy. The one in Figure 4, is
the type used in our server room. It has a cooling fan that
runs all the time. The one in Figure 1, is my
home UPS. It's the standby type, which remains cool to the
touch when utility power is available. No fan needed
in one of those. And remaining cool, likely helps extend the
life of the battery.

Another thing that helps the battery, is not running it flat
a lot. While the UPS cuts off current flow before the battery
is damaged, charge-discharge cycles can shorten the life.

http://web.archive.org/web/20090521041358/http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/SADE-5TNM3Y_R5_EN.pdf

You know the battery is done, when the unit makes random
beeps around once every five hours or so. Apparently,
the unit does some kind of test, to see if the
battery has available capacity or not. At first,
I couldn't figure out where the beeping was
coming from. I thought it was my smoke alarm

Paul

 

[Shadow]

Why doesn't Windows Update use my settings?

I have Download Updates but let me choose whether to install them, but
when I shut down my computer, I'm told not to turn off the computer,
because Windows is installing updates.

I use Windows XP SP3, and have had the same trouble for the
last 2 months or so. It always worked normally before. I could choose
what was installed.
Probably masterminded by the same people that made the Windows
8 interface. (we KNOW what's best for you).
I am seriously considering switching to Linux when support for
XP dies. I'll miss a couple of games, and Agent newsreader, but ...
[]'s

 

[Bob Henson]

Why doesn't Windows Update use my settings?

I have Download Updates but let me choose whether to install them, but
when I shut down my computer, I'm told not to turn off the computer,
because Windows is installing updates.

I use Windows XP SP3, and have had the same trouble for the
last 2 months or so. It always worked normally before. I could choose
what was installed.
Probably masterminded by the same people that made the Windows
8 interface. (we KNOW what's best for you).
I am seriously considering switching to Linux when support for
XP dies. I'll miss a couple of games, and Agent newsreader, but ...
[]'s

Agent should run under Linux using Wine. Certainly 40tude Dialog will, and
that's as good as or better than Agent. However, unless you have a very
old, slow machine, Windows 7 is way better than any Linux distro.