Windows 10 Automatic Updates and Restarts

A place to discuss anything.
Post Reply
Wolf1877
Posts: 367
Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2017 10:59 am

convoysur-2 wrote:
Thu Jun 06, 2019 1:09 pm
I often put money in the markets the night before racing and have light automation running to red me out for small loss,,
i wake up to find its closed ,
so im not placing bets or changing markets at the time .
If you are running Windows 10 then you have to watch out for automatic restarts being scheduled by Windows automatic updates that cannot be permanently disabled even in the pro edition. I try to manually check "Windows Update settings" each evening to check if it has a restart required. I then manually restart when its convenient to me to avoid it doing an automatic restart in the small hours which will close Bet Angel and any Guardian connected Excel sheets.

Windows Update settings advanced options has some settings where you can try to defer and minimise the update frequency but they cannot be stopped completely.
User avatar
firlandsfarm
Posts: 2688
Joined: Sat May 03, 2014 8:20 am

Wolf1877 wrote:
Sun Jun 23, 2019 10:30 am
If you are running Windows 10 then you have to watch out for automatic restarts being scheduled by Windows automatic updates that cannot be permanently disabled even in the pro edition.
Microsoft and Windows 10 are a real pain now the user is no longer in control of updates. It affects any app left running 24/7. When doing research I often leave browsers active overnight because I don't trust the "reopen last browsing session" facility, it has let me down too often. What was wrong with the "you have an update downloaded and waiting to be installed" message. Now I don't even get a "be warned we have an update, are you feeling lucky punk" message.
Wolf1877
Posts: 367
Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2017 10:59 am

firlandsfarm wrote:
Mon Jun 24, 2019 6:15 pm
Microsoft and Windows 10 are a real pain now the user is no longer in control of updates. It affects any app left running 24/7. When doing research I often leave browsers active overnight because I don't trust the "reopen last browsing session" facility, it has let me down too often. What was wrong with the "you have an update downloaded and waiting to be installed" message. Now I don't even get a "be warned we have an update, are you feeling lucky punk" message.
firlandsfarm

FYI there is a "be warned we have an update, are you feeling lucky punk" message.

(1) Click on the windows icon at the bottom left of windows 10 screen
(2) Type "Windows Update Settings" and when listed select and click to open the settings
(3) Click on "Advanced Options"
(4) 3rd option down gives a slider bar to switch on notifications. NB. Slightly different format for Windows 10 home and Windows 10 Pro - see images

If you have Windows Professional you can also defer updates up to 30 days and request "semi annual channel" so that non-urgent updates are only installed when they have proven to be stable basically this will slow down the frequency of updates. My Win 10 pro machines tend to be updated about once a week.
winpro-settings.png
winpro.png
winhome.png
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
User avatar
firlandsfarm
Posts: 2688
Joined: Sat May 03, 2014 8:20 am

Wolf1877 wrote:
Tue Jun 25, 2019 8:39 am
If you have Windows Professional you can also defer updates up to 30 days and request "semi annual channel" so that non-urgent updates are only installed when they have proven to be stable basically this will slow down the frequency of updates. My Win 10 pro machines tend to be updated about once a week.
Thanks Wolf I had that set before but I must keep missing the message for example on following your screen grabs I was informed an update is waiting … I didn't know anything about it! I guess they 'disappear' into the Notifications area to the right of the screen … I just see that as producing annoying little messages from people I don't want to hear from or about subjects I have no interest in! (Yeah, I'm quite cynical! :) ) I notice in the example screen grabs you published everything else is turned off, was that for impact within the grab or do you keep them turned 'off' in which case you are not only requesting an install but also have to request the download. The 'punk' message I was referring to is the one that used to say something like … "you have an update waiting, what do you want to do' and you could effectively defer it indefinitely (not that I did). At no point did it assume control of your computer. But Microsoft is becoming more nanny state with every release.

I wonder if part of my problem is that I seemed to have signed up for the Windows Insider thing thinking it might keep me super up to date but maybe it sends every little beta Update. Trouble is it seems soooo involved and complicated to duck out!
Last edited by firlandsfarm on Wed Jun 26, 2019 1:52 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Wolf1877
Posts: 367
Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2017 10:59 am

firlandsfarm wrote:
Tue Jun 25, 2019 2:10 pm
I notice in the example screen grabs you published everything else is turned off, was that for impact within the grab or do you keep them turned 'off' in which case you are not only requesting an install but also have to request the download.
The Windows 10 pro settings screen grab I posted are the settings I actually use on a machine I use pretty much 24/7 with Bet Angel. Basically I wanted to slow down updates as much as possible to minimise/prevent automatic overnight restarts - it still catches me out occasionally though if I fail to spot a scheduled restart in advance! I guess the pause updates for 35 days is a possible way for you to control things and just switch it off and install updates whenever convenient within the 35 day period might be an option.
User avatar
firlandsfarm
Posts: 2688
Joined: Sat May 03, 2014 8:20 am

Wolf1877 wrote:
Tue Jun 25, 2019 11:05 pm
The Windows 10 pro settings screen grab I posted are the settings I actually use on a machine I use pretty much 24/7 with Bet Angel. Basically I wanted to slow down updates as much as possible to minimise/prevent automatic overnight restarts - it still catches me out occasionally though if I fail to spot a scheduled restart in advance! I guess the pause updates for 35 days is a possible way for you to control things and just switch it off and install updates whenever convenient within the 35 day period might be an option.
I may have some good news to share with you Wolf and anyone else who gets 'caught' by automatic Windows Update restarts. The Microsoft help chat advised you can recreate the 'old' settings for Windows Update by editing the Registry. WARNING: If something goes wrong while editing your Registry it can render your computer unusable requiring a full rebuild and re-installation of all software and settings! Therefore if anyone wants to do this and edit their registry you MUST take a back-up of your Registry before doing anything else and I would strongly recommend you read up a little on editing your Registry to familiarise yourselves. The process is straightforward and simple, you are protecting yourself against typos and other accidental events.

OK, this is the advice I was given …

"We can make some registry changes to configure Windows Updates on your computer.
Open 'regedit'.
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
Do you find a key called 'WindowsUpdate' there? If not, create one.
Depending upon how you want the updates configured, we have different keywords.
Create a new key called 'AU' inside 'WindowsUpdate'
Now, create a new DWORD inside called 'AUOptions'.
Double click on the DWORD, and set its value to 3.
3 is for 'Automatically download and notify of installation'
You also have 2 for 'Notify before download'.
so it will download, notify but not do anything until I tell it to?
Exactly, David."

And that's it. You should then be in total control of Windows Updates.

I'm sorry but I'm not in a position to answer any technical questions, I'm just passing on the advice I was given.
User avatar
Dallas
Posts: 22674
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2015 10:57 pm
Location: Working From Home

Thought it might be better to create a dedicated thread for so people can search for it easier at a later date
User avatar
Derek27
Posts: 23477
Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2017 11:44 am
Location: UK

See the post below.

viewtopic.php?p=153783#p153783

Another method is to switch the windows update service on or off as required by placing the following commands in a command file (ending with the "cmd" extension).

To switch off (note the space between '=' and 'disabled' is crucial):-

Code: Select all

@ECHO off
NET STOP "Wuauserv"
SC config "wuauserv" Start= Disabled
PAUSE
To switch back on:-

Code: Select all

@ECHO off
SC config "wuauserv" Start= Demand
NET START "Wuauserv"
PAUSE
Wolf1877
Posts: 367
Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2017 10:59 am

Dallas - I agree a thread is more helpful - my post in the new version thread was in reply to overnight Bet Angel closedown issues reported by convoysur-2 - I'll put a link there for him in case he missed it.
firlandsfarm and Derek - thanks for the heads up on the alternative methods of holding up Windows updates.
Post Reply

Return to “General discussion”