# Restart Later. You mean now? No!! Not fucking now, I said later!!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 23, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restart-later-you-mean-now-no-not-fucking-now-i-said-later/327479 "2005-10-23T01:39:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restart-later-you-mean-now-no-not-fucking-now-i-said-later/327479/1 "2005-10-23T01:39:35Z")
“Windows XP has been updated. You must restart for some changes to take effect. Would you like to Restart now?” “Restart Later” “How about now? Or now? Want to restart now? What about now?” “No, I said Restart Later” “Oh you mean now? How about now? Or now? Or even now? Want to restart now?” “NO!!! DAMN YOU!!! I AM TRYING TO WORK HERE!!! STOP STEALING FOCUS TO ASK THE SAME GODDAMN QUESTION EVERY FUCKING TIME WHEN I HAVE ALREADY TOLD YOU I WANT TO RESTART LATER!!!” Windows XP Home does not have the option to alter the time between these constant barrages, only XP Pro has that ability (and even that’s deeply hidden). This is something that, to put it mildly, sucks donkey balls. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restart-later-you-mean-now-no-not-fucking-now-i-said-later/327479/2 "2005-10-23T01:46:57Z")
I get that at work (my PC uses Win2k). I just drag the window off screen and wait til I’m ready for it. Unfortunately, it steals focus when I’m not paying attention and I end rebooting anyways. It takes about five minutes to get my PC up and running in the morning (I have a lot of programs that have to be going before I can start working). ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restart-later-you-mean-now-no-not-fucking-now-i-said-later/327479/3 "2005-10-23T01:48:32Z")
So did you restart? ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restart-later-you-mean-now-no-not-fucking-now-i-said-later/327479/4 "2005-10-23T01:51:33Z")
> [@CynicalGabe](#): > > So did you restart? How about now? Didja do it yet? Wanna do it now? Ok, ok. Point taken. I won’t ask again. But just so I’m sure, HOW ABOUT NOW?! ---
**Author:** ![Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eada6e/32.png) [@Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_You_Big_Red_Fire_Engine)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restart-later-you-mean-now-no-not-fucking-now-i-said-later/327479/5 "2005-10-23T01:56:17Z")
I don’t understand it. Does windows think you won’t restart EVER if it doesn’t prompt you to do so? That was one of the multitude of things I found annoying, so I switched to Linux. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restart-later-you-mean-now-no-not-fucking-now-i-said-later/327479/6 "2005-10-23T01:59:09Z")
> [@Go You Big Red Fire Engine](#): > > I don’t understand it. Does windows think you won’t restart EVER if it doesn’t prompt you to do so? You might not. [This thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=340641) has some discussion about how long people have had their computers running. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restart-later-you-mean-now-no-not-fucking-now-i-said-later/327479/7 "2005-10-23T02:01:16Z")
can’t you just force-quit the restart app?, on my Macs if i don’t want to restart after an update, i force-quit the restart utility, then restart when _I’M_ ready to… ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restart-later-you-mean-now-no-not-fucking-now-i-said-later/327479/8 "2005-10-23T02:02:55Z")
> [@CynicalGabe](#): > > So did you restart? Yes I did. When I was good and ready. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restart-later-you-mean-now-no-not-fucking-now-i-said-later/327479/9 "2005-10-23T02:03:17Z")
You know what my favourite is? When I’ve got a very long rendering or video-encoding running. Or maybe a bittorrent download. Something that takes hours and hours, anyway. It’s late at night, and you’re about ready to go to bed, but you can’t – because you know that Windows has taken it into its head that it _really_ wants to restart to finish up those automatic updates – and you’ve got to keep telling it that you don’t want to restart, because to fail to respond is to acquiesce. You’ve got to keep reasserting yourself, or (in a best case scenario) your computer is going to be totally unproductive while you sleep. Worse than that, you might _waste_ a day’s production. _YOU DUMB FUCK! I’VE GOT AN APPLICATION RUNNING THAT IS CLEARLY NOT IDLE. DO NOT SHUT IT DOWN AND RESTART BECAUSE YOU’VE DOWNLOADED SOME CRAPPY NEW WMP CODEC THAT I DON’T GIVE A RAT’S ASS ABOUT_. Of course, turning off those stupid automatic updates fixes that right up, along with a number of other annoyances. But still. Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restart-later-you-mean-now-no-not-fucking-now-i-said-later/327479/10 "2005-10-23T02:11:26Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > can’t you just force-quit the restart app?, on my Macs if i don’t want to restart after an update, i force-quit the restart utility, then restart when _I’M_ ready to… Mine just waits quietly until I’m ready. ---
**Author:** ![squeekster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/779978/32.png) [@squeekster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeekster)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restart-later-you-mean-now-no-not-fucking-now-i-said-later/327479/11 "2005-10-23T02:20:37Z")
I have XP Home edition and every time I update and it asks me if I want to reboot, if I tell it later it never bothers me about it again. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eada6e/32.png) [@Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_You_Big_Red_Fire_Engine)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restart-later-you-mean-now-no-not-fucking-now-i-said-later/327479/12 "2005-10-23T02:32:26Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > You might not. [This thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=340641) has some discussion about how long people have had their computers running. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restart-later-you-mean-now-no-not-fucking-now-i-said-later/327479/13 "2005-10-23T02:54:53Z")
The key to this issue is to avoid even downloading the automatic updates until you’re ready to restart. If you close out the little “Windows has Automatic Updates that are ready for download” reminder, it won’t bug you again until the next day, and that reminder doesn’t even steal focus. If you download the updates before you’re ready to install them, it’ll bug you to install them every fifteen minutes or so. Same thing if you install them before you’re ready to restart. So, when it comes to the auto-updates, don’t start what you don’t intend to immediately finish. Or just turn the fuckers off, as I did. But I’m cavalier like that. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restart-later-you-mean-now-no-not-fucking-now-i-said-later/327479/14 "2005-10-23T03:30:02Z")
I’ve been tinkering with the parental computer. I’m now only doing it after hours, though, since having Mom come in, see me click “restart later,” and then completely lose her shit (“Is that going to mess up the computer? Are you sure it’s going to be OK?”) became really old really fast. ---
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restart-later-you-mean-now-no-not-fucking-now-i-said-later/327479/15 "2005-10-23T04:10:36Z")
The worst I’ve experienced is with MS Visual Studio 6. “Visual Studio has almost finished installing. You must restart the computer to complete the install. Do you wish to restart now?” I click “Restart Later”. The install app pretends to do some stuff for a few seconds, then comes up with another box, saying “Your computer will restart now” and only offering an OK button. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restart-later-you-mean-now-no-not-fucking-now-i-said-later/327479/16 "2005-10-23T05:05:46Z")
I’ve ranted about the Windows restart now/later thing in [my [del]blog[/del] page I put stuff on](http://blogs.vislab.usyd.edu.au/index.php?cat=71). ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restart-later-you-mean-now-no-not-fucking-now-i-said-later/327479/17 "2005-10-23T14:29:35Z")
See, this is why, when I do an update that I know will probably need a restart, I shut everything else off. Plus, I’ve found an occassional restart speeds up my memory and processing. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restart-later-you-mean-now-no-not-fucking-now-i-said-later/327479/18 "2005-10-23T14:44:58Z")
> [@Mbossa](#): > > The worst I’ve experienced is with MS Visual Studio 6. > > “Visual Studio has almost finished installing. You must restart the computer to complete the install. Do you wish to restart now?” > > I click “Restart Later”. The install app pretends to do some stuff for a few seconds, then comes up with another box, saying “Your computer will restart now” and only offering an OK button. Yeah, that used to really piss me off. The update box keep popping up every five minutes is annoying, especially if you are doing work. ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restart-later-you-mean-now-no-not-fucking-now-i-said-later/327479/19 "2005-10-23T15:03:31Z")
You can stop the shutdown if the countdown timer has started by going into your run box and typing **shutdown /a** and hitting enter. Other than that, I don’t leave automatic updates on. I update when I want to, not when Windows wants. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restart-later-you-mean-now-no-not-fucking-now-i-said-later/327479/20 "2005-10-23T20:28:59Z")
I used to shut off my computer every day when I left. I remember being told to do that way back when. Now, IS is saying, Oh, no, you should only log off. That way any updates can be done. We have it set up to do updates overnight, so you should be fine when you come in, unless of course, you’ve shut off your computer. Then it doesn’t have a chance to do updates. I’ve timed it…that little window pops up every 10 minutes. And yes, I’m usually working and since I open all my little applications in a certain order it’s a pain to shut everything off and twiddle my thumbs especially in the middle of the workday! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restart-later-you-mean-now-no-not-fucking-now-i-said-later/327479.md?page=2)