Forced restarts get a hammering
This issue Ken Rigsby grabs his sledgehammer to prevent…
Many’s the occasion when I thought that some gadget or other had developed a mind of its own. There was a period, for example, when my mouse pointer would occasionally go haywire. I thought my laptop had developed a fault, but eventually I realised my palms would sometimes rest on the built-in touchpad — so it was my physical ineptitude that was causing the cursor to do dance madly.
Another time, my smartphone’s display would dim randomly. I spent days going through the settings, and trying different Google searches to find a solution. But that couldn’t have helped because the problem turned out to be a barely visible bit of grime splodged right on top of the phone’s light sensor. At certain angles my phone thought it darker than it actually was — so it was dimming the screen to prevent perceived eye strain. One quick wipe, problem solved.
I could list many other examples where I thought my digital life was out of control. But most times the causes were simple, or something that I did not understand. Not Windows 10’s forced restarts, though — those really are beyond anyone’s control. Why? Because Microsoft thinks it knows what’s best for us pesky users.
If you’ve not encountered a forced restart yet then trust me, you will. It’s common knowledge that Windows 10 downloads updates automatically. It’s also reasonably well-known that Microsoft’s system applies these updates when the PC next restarts, whether you like it or not. You might even understand that Windows 10 updates sometimes remove or change features you like.
But what you might not realise is that sooner or later Windows 10 will tell you that it’s about to restart and that you’d better be ready. Why again? Because when it reaches this stage there’s literally nothing you can do to stop it. Nothing. Well, OK, you could smash up your PC with a sledgehammer. But while that would stop Windows from performing any kind of restarts, forced or otherwise, it would also be an expensive solution.
Now, as loyal readers of Computeractive, you’ll know many of the tricks that you can deploy in Windows 10 to make yourself think you’re in control. You can, for example, set ‘active hours’ during which Windows 10 will leave you alone. Do that and you’ll remain undisturbed for up to 12 hours. You can also set a custom restart time, so that the operating system restarts to install updates only when you say.
But here’s the hidden catch: if Windows 10 wants to restart and your 12 hours are up before you’ve set a custom restart time then… your 12 hours are up. You can’t at this stage change the ‘active hours’. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing – like having an urgent Skype meeting with an Australian relative, at 1am, as I was – Windows 10 will force a restart. There’s literally no way to stop it. I was outside my active hours so Windows 10 decided I should no longer be active (ironic, given the title of this magazine).
I’d love to know where Microsoft gets off on resetting my PC whenever it pleases. In fact, I wanted to know so much that at 1.30am, when my PC had eventually sorted itself out, I contacted Microsoft support. Do you know what they said? Well, I’d love to tell you but – and this is not a joke – as I was discussing the matter in a Microsoft chat window, Windows 10 decided it was time for another forced restart. I flagged this to the support agent, but he admitted that even he couldn’t stop it. Angry and tired, I gave up and went to bed. So perhaps Microsoft does know what’s best for me after all.
Sooner or later Windows 10 will tell you that it’s about to restart and there’s nothing you can do to stop it