Windows 7:Disable Restart Now Message After Windows Automatic Update Message

Sponsored Links

One of the most important and occasionally most annoying features of Windows is Windows Update. On the second Tuesday of each month Microsoft releases their software updates and patches for Windows, which are usually numerous, and most computers receive these updates automatically if Windows Update is turned on.

You might notice your computer slow down while these updates are installed in the background. After they are installed, the computer will normally automatically restart 5 minutes after the installation is finished.

If you are sitting at your computer, you can either restart immediately or you can choose to postpone and be reminded again after a certain interval. However, if you are not near your computer, it’ll just restart after the time interval. If you were in the middle of some work and happened to be away from the computer for a while, then you could end up losing some of your work because of the auto-restart.

I definitely think that the default settings are good for most users since the updates are usually security related and should be installed ASAP in order to avoid malware, spyware or hacking attempts.

That being said, I also feel that certain aspects can be tweaked for power users like myself. I routinely check for updates when I want and install them on my own. If you have the discipline to restart your computer every once in a while, then it’s ok to disable the auto-restart feature and delay the nagging reminders that pop up every 10 minutes.

I’ll show you how to configure both of those settings in Group Policy and I’ll also go through a couple of other settings there and in the Control Panel. Unfortunately, all of this only works on Windows 7 Pro, Ultimate and Enterprise and Windows 8 Pro. If you have the Starter, Home or non-Pro versions of Windows, you can’t get into Group Policy settings.

Sponsored