Windows Update is a lifesaver for those of us who are not diligent in keeping our computers up-to-date with the latest fixes, patches, etc. However, the dialog box that constantly pops up after an update is installed reminding me to restart my computer is an annoyance, especially when I’m in the middle of something.

Eventually though, Windows gets annoyed with me and simply indicates that my computer will reboot in 5 minutes. To prevent this from happening, without having to temporarily disable Windows Update, you can disable automatic reboots from happening when a user is logged on. To accomplish this in Vista:

1. Click Start, type regedit.exe and press Enter.
2. Navigate to the following location:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Windows \ WindowsUpdate \ AU.
3. Create a new 32-bit DWORD value named NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers and give it a value of 1.
4. Exit the Registry Editor.

This will now prevent any automatic reboots from occurring when users are logged on.