Stop rebooting my computer Microsoft!

I don’t really have anything against Microsoft but lately the company is starting to get on my nerves. Specifically when it comes to rebooting my computer automatically in the middle of the night.

These reboots stem from the automated updates that download to my PC in the middle of the night. The updates are usually related to patches issued by Microsoft to address recent security threats. I’m all for that. But I’m not all for the reboots.

I’m not for them because I habitually have 10-15 programs open on my desktop at any given time (I have 4 gigabytes of RAM on my PC so why not?) Many times these open programs serve as my workflow. In other words, I know what I am working on by what programs I have open on my desktop. So rebooting my computer is like rebooting my brain.

Before any other techies mention it, I’m aware that I can turn off the automatic downloads completely or compromise with a download-but-don’t-install approach. But setting either of these options instantly sets off the critical warning flag on my Windows Live OneCare software (I’ll let you have one guess who makes this software).

As you can see, Microsoft has handed me a double-edged sword. I either put up with the brain reboots when I least expect them or put up with a nagging critical (but not critical in my opinion) warning from my Windows Live OneCare software.