[tip] Automatic Update Restart Dialog Box

Personally, I like to keep Automatic Update on, mostly because I'm lazy and would not necessarily remember to run Microsoft Update on a regular basis otherwise.

However, I also play a lot of MMORPGs and do other things which prevent me from restarting the computer until a much later time.

It's very annoying to have your system update itself, and then keep reminding you every 10 minutes to reboot your system. There are times when I simply can't do it for several hours without it being a considerable inconvenience.

The dialog box would not be an issue for me if it didn't steal the focus.

On Windows XP Pro SP2 you can set the delay between each alert in minutes, or disable the alert entirely. Obviously these security patches that have been just applied to your computer do require you to reboot, so you shouldn't disable the alert entirely, just in case you're one of those people (such as myself) who would never reboot if they didn't need to.

Start / Run / gpedit.msc / Local Computer Policy / Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Windows Components / Windows Update / Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations.

You can set in minutes how often it'll complain. Ironically, you'll need to restart the computer for the new setting to take effect.

Again, this tip is mainly for people who can't restart the system on cue for whatever reason after it's been patched. Don't use this to delay the restart indefinitely, you need those patches applied.

This tip doesn't work on XP Home as it doesn't use group policies afaik.

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