Stop Windows XP update reboot nagging
We just went through the monthly Windows update process and I was reminded of something that annoys many PC users who use automatic update. After the update patches are installed, Windows wants to reboot and in XP will keep nagging you every 10 minutes until you do. You can tell it to reboot later but it comes back before you know it and asks again. If you are in the middle of something, you may not want to reboot for a while but those messages just keep popping up. Here’s a way to turn the message off until whenever you choose to reboot. It involves temporarily stopping the Windows automatic update service and there are several ways to do this. You can use the Services Console (described here) or the command line. The command line is probably easier. Open the command line window by entering “cmd” in Start-Run (without quotes). In the command box, enter
net stop wuauserv
This will halt the messages. The automatic update service will resume the next time you reboot.
I don’t use automatic update but prefer to be notified when updates are available so I can choose my own time to start the process. However, most average home users probably have automatic updates enabled and this tip may save you some aggravation. Note that Vista has changed the frequency of nag messages and waits 4 hours between messages. That pretty much removes the annoyance.
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