You know, everyone who doesn’t like Vista often cites reasons like the increased resource requirements, the flashy useless GUI, the compatibility issues, whatever pops into their head at the time. Their big favourite is the UAC, that extremely annoying screen-darkening and popup that happens when the computer gets nervous and modest. If you so much as glance at the hard drive, up comes UAC asking whether you really want to do that, or whether it can just go home and cry.
If this post is going nowhere, wait for this: I have a challenge. The UAC is certainly not the most annoying feature in Vista. No way! That doesn’t even come close! Imagine the shock and frustration I experienced when I was told my computer would self-destruct, and there was nothing I could do about it! Windows Update had decided that it needed instant gratification, and since it is software and not a dog, I can’t just pat it or give it some treats. So, I watched helplessly as my computer’s life neared end.
What a joke! See here the promising defusal kit, the Postpone button, mercilessly confiscated from my use! And there was great wailing and gnashing of teeth at the impending doom. Instead of outfitting me with a defusal kit, they armed me with a pistol and a single bullet… for the quick way out… Isn’t it amusing how the package it as “Restart now”?
Well, I think that’s the end of that little episode, so, as always, let’s hear about your own near-death (or rather just death) experiences.
PS: Go Inspector Gadget!
Oh dear. Vista is bad. I haven’t yet received this (it actually asks me if I want to restart).
As for whatever pops up into my head is concerned, what annoys me now is that to install updates, you have to SHUT DOWN the computer, you cannot RESTART it. Therefore, if I want Windows to take a long time configuring its updates while I sleep, I have to shut it down, wait for the pre-shutdown stuff to complete, get out of bed, turn it on again, and THEN can I go to sleep
Though normally, after that, I’d wait for it to finish and restart into Ubuntu because I like it more 
Comment by hatkirby — December 19, 2008 @ 9:19 am
Usually it asks me if I want to restart, but on this occasion it made the decision for me. Grrr! I think you can actually install updates with a restart, but why would you need to? If you are doing a shutdown, isn’t that indicative that you have finished using the computer?
EDIT: woops, I thought that I posted this ages ago, but it was sitting in one of my tabs unsubmitted. It is in response to Hatkirby’s post. I will just change the time on it…
Comment by bluem937 — December 19, 2008 @ 11:46 am
OMG I HATE THIS!!!
The only way (that I have found) is to use an admin account to postpone – other users can’t. I got so sick of it that I just gave up on security and made myself an admin…
Comment by Tamesis Lucien — December 19, 2008 @ 12:40 pm
(Ozzyfrog) Yep, I get this and it’s always in the middle of something important. It’s annoying, escpecially when you resart and it tells you that the update has failed. Grrrr.
Comment by ozzycaiphas — December 19, 2008 @ 3:33 pm
Well, looks like I’m not alone with these difficulties, and have really hit the sweet spot on the biggest problem! So, let’s hope Microsoft fix this in a future update! Maybe Vista SP2… installing that will probably cause a self-destruct too. Irony.
Comment by bluem937 — December 19, 2008 @ 3:47 pm
This is why I’m gonna wait for Windows 7.
Comment by atlanticslamon — December 19, 2008 @ 3:52 pm
Microsoft won’t fix it! It’s a conspiracy!
Switch to Linux!!!! 
I’m talking about after it configures the updates, and you have to turn it off for it to install them. It doesn’t let me restart then, I have to shutdown.
I want to to restart because even after installing all of its updates upon shutdown, it does even more when you turn it on. When I daily use my Windows side, I don’t have the time to wait for it to configure updates, so I usually do it at home.
Comment by hatkirby — December 20, 2008 @ 5:38 am
From what I’ve heard, Linux does generally handle updates quite nicely, but until Linux starts to get mainstream support, I don’t think it is worth switching.
And by the time Linux has the appropriate level of support, Microsoft Azure, Google Apps, Amazon Web, and myriad other cloud computing solutions will be widely used, and the consumer OS will be largely redundant. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is already taking hold, and it is only accelerating. Windows 7 may well be the last major client OS release for Microsoft. Windows 7 already includes many cloud computing features. The true windows 7 (“Windows 7″ is actually still 6.x) will be when cloud computing is mainstream.
Linux has a place, and will continue to have a place, in server and enterprise situations, but I doubt linux will ever get time in the spotlight of consumer client usage.
Perhaps I should write a post about cloud computing?
I understand what you mean about the restart now Hatkirby, but I still think that it will install updates if you restart. I don’t know, I often sleep or hibernate my computer when a shut down is not necessary.
Comment by bluem937 — December 20, 2008 @ 11:44 am
That’s another thing that annoys me about Windows! If I hibernate, when the computer turns back on, it simply freezes before the login screen appears! GAH!
I will think of a comeback to your comment as soon as I can think of one.
Comment by Hatkirby — December 20, 2008 @ 10:51 pm
I don’t think it’s something that needs a comeback, it is just an observation and a prediction that I made. Surely you, as a web developer, would be welcoming the prospect of cloud computing? Sure, maybe you don’t like the idea of a proprietary Microsoft solution, but since there is not currently any monopoly in web services, Microsoft can’t leverage and monetise it.
It sounds like you have some problems with your Windows installations- is your computer up-to-date and SP1 installed? I know it’s a stupid question, but I have not heard of that problem before, among everyone I know who has a Vista OS.
Comment by bluem937 — December 21, 2008 @ 5:34 pm
Cloud computing does sound interesting, but that’s not what I’m arguing about. I’m just arguing about Windows in general. And the fact that you dissed Linux….. Oooooh, not a smart move…. *evil*
Yes, it is up to date. Every time I connect to the iNet it downloads updates and such, and it’s been doing this thing with hibernation the entire time I’ve had the computer.
Comment by Hatkirby — December 22, 2008 @ 10:00 am
That wasn’t a diss at all… In fact, I was praising Linux for its excellent updating system. If I was dissing anyone (which I wasn’t) it was the client OS as a whole. So, Linux is a client OS, but so is Windows, OSX, etc. It was not a Linux diss. The observation that Linux doesn’t have mainstream support is also just an observation. The attitude for Linux support is usually “Look it up and fix it for yourself”. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not dissing this, there are certainly very helpful forums, tutorials, etc. all over the internet for Linux. The average computer user doesn’t want to tinker around with their OS to get it just how they want it, they want something that will work without effort. This is where Mac, and Windows (usually) have an advantage.
Comment by bluem937 — December 22, 2008 @ 10:17 am
if it doesnt happen all the time, its only used for critical updates – like the ie jpeg overflow exploit, where postponing the last stage of installation could cause serious problems to your comuter
Comment by gizmolio — December 22, 2008 @ 10:28 am
Ok then, I guess it’s just paranoid me.
But I do still think that Linux is a wonderfully fun learning experience. It’s obviously the best OS and that’s not what we’re talking about here and I really wouldn’t like to start a flame war. 
libpng for Linux once had a very interesting exploit that allowed remote users to launch DOS attacks and execute arbitrary code. And how that links up to PNGs, I do not know.
And yes, I may or may not be in an in-descriptive, quantum manner possibly or not attempting to not change the topic of which we could or couldn’t be talking about.
Comment by Hatkirby — December 23, 2008 @ 9:25 am