Submission details
Do not steal keyclicks when asking user to reboot or postpone windows updates
I ran Windows Update today. It wanted to reboot my machine, so it popped up a box asking me if I wanted to reboot or postpone 10 minutes. I ignored it (meaning I didn't click postpone or anything else), instead clicked on Firefox, and continued to work. 10 minutes later, it brought the box back up again as a topmost foreground box. I again completely ignored the box and went back to Firefox. The third time, I happened to be typing a sentence into an online email service. I was just about to hit 'r' and then space in the course of my typing when this box came again to the foreground and stole these keyclicks. It took my 'r' as selecting the reboot button and the spacebar as pressing the reboot button, and wham, without asking "are you sure" or anything, it just took my entire system down for reboot and I lost what I was typing into my email website.
Do not ever steal focus by bringing this window to the foreground, which will end up stealing keyclicks intended for another application. Just make it activate a blinking icon in the toolbar or something, like it does when something needs process elevation.
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Not fixed
Discussion (14 comments)
How about installing the updates at next reboot? no need to ask the user. next time they reboot, it will install them
Indrek, yes, the first time, it is in the background, but if you ignore it and completely don't click on it but instead bring another window over the top like a browser, in 10 minutes, it tries to become a foreground window.
And yes, it might have had Postpone as the default, but maybe I typed an 'R' then a space intending for that to end up in my email, but that's what triggered the reboot instead.
Changed title from [Do not accept keyclicks when asking user to reboot or postphone windows updates] to [Do not steal keyclicks when asking user to reboot or postpone windows updates].
Changed problem description.
Changed solution description.
Changed problem description.
+1
It's actually part of the more general issue in Windows that another app can steal foreground focus. In this particular instance I've had the update window leap in while i've been typing elsewhere and trigger a reboot that lost data from the app I was using.
dsmtoday: I tried leaving a reboot prompt in the background for 10 minutes, but after that it just flashed on the taskbar instead of jumping to the foreground.
.Chris wrote on January 22, 2010, 3:53am
"How about installing the updates at next reboot? no need to ask the user. next time they reboot, it will install them"
Some users, like myself, rarely reboot. So without being notified of updates waiting for a reboot it may be days before the reboot, leaving the system potentially open to attack if it's a critical security update that's waiting.
I do agree that it shouldn't steal focus, but should simply sit in the task bar flashing like crazy so one doesn't forget it needs a reboot. :-)
Comment edited on January 22, 2010, 3:34pm
This, and being able to select which updates I want installed is why I have auto updates disabled. +1
THIS MAKE IDIOT 7 SMARTER a LOT!
This is also annoying since I was playing one of those types of games where if it minimizes you lose your progress since the last save point.
Since update decided to appear, I lost my progress from my last checkpoint having to re-do an entire, difficult level again.
For the record, I did try maximizing and ALT tab but the game crashed when doing both since its exclusive :(
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Comment edited on January 23, 2010, 3:24am
Which game was that, patternjake?
Alpha Prime. I got really far on it and stupid windows update popped up and I had to do the whole level again grrr
I usually tell it to wait 4 hours, but then I forget about it if I am on four hours later and it interrupts me again.
I think the point of it is to force everybody (even people who leave their PC on all the time) to reboot for updates.
and another reason why Microsoft sometimes never gets it. They seem to love the forced reboot. i'm just waiting for updates to be installed wioth out a reboot.
Linux is capable of doing hot patching for the kernel even when it is running, as is Mac OS X.
Although I understand that the architecture of NT is completetly different which would make this impossible. Only the userland stuff can be updated without a reboot, but then, you still are not guarenteed that things will work smoothly until you reboot again.
Indrek wrote on January 22, 2010, 2:00am
+1
Not bringing the notification to the foreground would be preferrable, I think.
Edit: that's odd. The reboot notification was just triggered on my computer, but it was in the background, plus the Postpone button was highlighted by default, so there was no way I could've inadvertantly caused a restart with a single press of the spacebar or Enter key.
Comment edited on January 22, 2010, 2:14am