(LiveHacking.Com) – Microsoft will change the way Windows 8 forces a system restart when applying security patches to minimine downtime and limit disruption and inconvenience. According to a new post on the Microsoft’s Building Windows 8 blog, the Windows Update service will be modified for Windows 8.
When it comes to Windows Update, one of the most discussed topics is the disruptiveness of restarts in the course of automatic updating. And for good reason—restarts can interrupt you right in the middle of something important.
For Windows 8 Microsoft wants to find the best way to quickly update the PC while not being intrusive to the user. To this end it proposes three principles:
- The automatic updating experience is not intrusive to users but keeps them aware of critical actions
- Minimize restarts and make them more predictable
- Continue to keep the PC and the ecosystem up-to-date and secure in a timely manner
What this means practically is that:
- Windows Update will consolidate all the restarts in a month, synchronizing with the monthly security release (meaning Patch Tuesday).
- Windows Update notifies you of any upcoming automatic restart.
- Windows Update will delay the automatic restart if there is potential of losing user data.
What this means is that it does not matter when updates that require restarts are released in a month, as these restarts will be delayed till Patch Tuesday. Therefore there will be just one forced restart per month.
There is however one exception, if Microsoft issue a critical security update to fix a worm-like vulnerability then Windows Updates will download, install, and restart automatically.
