Computer Corner

February 2010
Why Did My Computer Restart By Itself?
By Guruka Singh

Have you ever left your computer only to come back in the morning and find that it has restarted all by itself and you have lost whatever you were working on?

When you have Microsoft Updates turned on, and the update requires a restart, your computer will most likely shut down all by itself and then restart, usually around 3 AM. It’s important to take steps to ensure that you don't lose data due to these unexpected post-update reboots.

Let's face it, no one likes rebooting. At best, rebooting requires that you start your work session over. At worst, if you've set Windows to update automatically, any open documents may close without giving you a chance to save your information.

For example, let's look at Internet Explorer, although the same idea holds for any software you update.

When you update IE, the new software is written to disk. Any old code that is already active in system memory usually remains untouched. Only when you restart the computer do you flush out all the old code and load the new, updated software from your hard drive.

This is why in my experience, virtually all IE patches still insist on a reboot. Without a restart, you're still running the old code that contains whatever security flaw the update was designed to correct.

And don't think that using Firefox gets you a pass on these updates. You still have to update Internet Explorer because Windows uses IE for many other purposes. Thus malware can still reach your system through IE even if you never use IE!

Predicting whether an update requires a reboot

Patches whose installation requires a restart are normally released by Microsoft only on the second Tuesday of the month, known as “Patch Tuesday.” However, Microsoft also distributes updates on the fourth Tuesday of the month. This is where the water gets muddier. The message accompanying these updates states only that a reboot “may” be required. In these cases, some computers will need to reboot to complete the update installation, and some won't, but there's no good way to tell in advance.

Even Windows 7 is annoyingly vague in stating its update-reboot requirements. On my Win7 computer, I reviewed several recent randomly chosen updates to determine whether the patches demanded a reboot. Each update used the same vague wording that it "may" require a restart.

Confused? As Sarah Palin would say, ‘you betcha!’ The uselessly vague fudge-phrase "may need to restart" leaves you guessing. And until we have clear word from Microsoft as to when reboots are truly required, it's generally wise to reboot your computer yourself after installing any Windows patches. It's the only way to be sure that all old code is flushed out of active memory.

Note that Windows XP doesn not support "hotpatching." That's why reboot nags are so common on XP machines. However, even Windows 7 needs reboots sometimes after an update, albeit much less often than Windows XP.

Autosaving avoids data loss from forced restarts

You can do two things to minimize accidental loss of data due to files closing unexpectedly during a forced reboot. First, set your automatic-update options to either "download but do not install" or "notify me when updates are available."

Second, configure your applications to save files automatically.

Office 2007's "AutoRecover" function autosaves open files every 10 minutes by default, but you can reset Word, Excel, and other apps to automatically save your files more frequently. To do so, click the Office button and choose Options, Save.

Make sure Save AutoRecover information every xx minutes is checked, and then adjust the time between autosaves to your liking. You can also change the autosaved files' location so they're easier to find if you need to restore them manually.

To change your autosave settings in Word 2003, click Tools, Options, Save. Make sure the Save AutoRecover info every option is checked, and then adjust the number of minutes.

As in Word 2007, you can also change the folder where your autosaved files are stored; in Word 2003, this option is found under the “File Locations” tab.

Is this sufficient protection? Not for me. I've gotten into the habit of  pressing Ctrl+S  every few minutes while I work(or you can click the Save button.) I also save all open files before stepping away from my PC, even if I expect to be gone just a few minutes. It’s just a habit I developed after being bitten by Windows crashing or shutting down unexpectedly.

If you use Windows 7, be extra-observant on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month, when Microsoft releases most updates. Watch for a "shut down and install patches" prompt in place of the normal shutdown prompts around those days. If you get the prompt and want to postpone the patch installation to a later time, shut down by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete and choosing the direct shut-down option on the resulting screen in order to shut down Windows 7 without installing downloaded updates.

Weave it All Together

Do you use Firefox? Do you use more than one computer? If so, then you must install the Mozilla Weave add-on https://mozillalabs.com/weave/

Weave provides fast, silent, real time synchronization of your browsing history, bookmarks, cookies and passwords between all your computers. This is “release candidate” software, so one caveat: be sure you are running the same version of Weave on all your computers or they will not synch properly.

And finally, although you will have to wait for it to load, it is well worth the wait. I promise! Go to http://bit.ly/5IIeY7 - sit back and let it unfold.

Please keep letting me know if this column is useful to you and also keep sending me your suggestions for column topics, along with your own tips or cool downloads, so I can share them with the Sangat here. Just email them to me at guruka@sikhnet.com

Thanks!