Literally the only thing I want from Windows Updates is the option "do not reboot without asking me first" back. That's it.
Windows historically has been heavily used in botnets, in part because people do not apply updates to known (and fixed) vulnerabilities. Microsoft removing the "fuck off" button was a response to that, and I'd assert it's made the Internet in general safer. Yet it's also unquestionably had the side-effect of making Windows dramatically less pleasant to use.
What's the best solution here? iOS just reboots in the middle of the night, which would likely work well for Windows tablets, but might have issues with traditional desktops, since Windows doesn't have the freedom iOS does to just shut down apps. Linux leaves you to fend for yourself, which I think has mostly worked okay thus far because Linux users tend to be more technically sophisticated. macOS is a bit in-between, attempting to do the midnight reboot dance, but aborting if docs are open.
I don't know about other people, but the only time I update is when its mandatory or I magically managed to close out all my work and have no state I care about. I suspect a lot of OS X users are on out of date builds of the current latest version. For the big feature updates they are pretty good about harassing users and do nice things like download the new OS without asking.
The right answer, in my opinion, is to force reboots by default but to allow the option to disable it.
macOS: not the most popular consumer operating system
That's likely a pipe dream, as apps do a bunch of complicated things - but it seems like a merger of security and UX. I'm not saying it's possible.. just that it seems like the best compromise.
However, regular reboots to install updates is only fixing the symptoms instead of the underlying problem. The proper solution is to put security first when writing software. The entire design needs to be developed for security from the very beginning, not added on as a "feature" afterwords.
Additionally, it would also be a good idea to design software components to have minimal interdependence (loose coupling). This should allows not only easier testing, but also easier replacement. Fewer reboots are needed with when you can replace components individually. (it can also limit restarts to only one subsystem)
It the moment it's the other way around, in your face when you don't want it and then disappears altogether.
"Reboot to apply important security updates and to get rid of this message"
Have an overlay of red letters that doesn't impede you to do anything but is kind of an eye sore. Maybe a window that can be moved but can't be hidden. People will reboot to remove that message (but never when they're in the middle of something).
Last week I was playing Shadow of Mordor when all of a sudden the game crashed with an error along the lines of "Graphics device was removed or disconnected". The reason for it was Windows 10 had decided to update while I was gaming and a new GPU driver was installed as part of the update.
Suffice it to say I finally cracked and looked up how to set up the group policy settings to ask me before updating. Luckily I'm using Windows 10 Pro and have this option.
I know a lot people used to give Windows Update a lot of flak in the pre-Windows 10 days, but I never really thought it was a problem (I always had it set to ask when to install updates) but Windows 10's update settings are downright user hostile.
LMAO
No seriously. This could be straight out of a comedy piece.
I've had good results with this guide[0], which describes a lot of the same steps as the guide that mintplant already linked to, plus a few more. So far, it seems that no Windows updates have undone the changes I made by following the guide. I'm pretty sure I went through the guide before receiving the anniversary update, too.
In addition to no longer waking from sleep, my computer also no longer forces me to restart while it's awake and in use.
[0] http://superuser.com/questions/973009/conclusively-stop-wake...
You know what really turns my hair gray about this, I mean aside from losing the state of all my open apps, is that when I actually do want to shutdown a Windows computer it almost always seems to not shutdown because some open program is blocking shutdown with a dialogue box asking if I want to save my work or if I really want to quit.
"Breakpoint exception [hexadecimal error code] ... [something or other]"
dialog box that displays for less than a second. I don't think it shows up in the Event Viewer logs, so if I want to search for the error code online and remedy the problem, I'll have to be quick with a handheld camera.
It could be 3rd party software erroring out, so I guess I won't blame Microsoft for this one until I have more info.
http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-permanently-stop-windows-10-r...
https://superuser.com/questions/973009/conclusively-stop-wak...
Note that the group profile to disable reboots does not work; Win10 completely ignores it. I agree that this should be supported in the UI for sophisticated users. These sorts of frankly insane steps should not be necessary.
Set "No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations".
I also set "Allow Automatic Update immediate installation".
What good is a OS that can't be trusted to be available when you need it?
Now I don't get any Windows updates, but the possibility of joining a botnet is preferable to the certainty that Windows will ruin my work.
I'm glad that Microsoft is making the internet a safer place.