According to the strict meaning of the words, prompting is not done with a restart (that is the catastrophe I am trying to avoid); it is done with a message window, prior to a possible restart, if the user permits.



I realize that shortcuts are taken in communicating, so I am assuming that what is meant is that a possible restart is scheduled "x" minutes after the last postponement by the user, and the possible restart is always accompanied by a prior prompt for confirmation by the user. I hope this is the intended meaning, as it is the one that makes the most operational sense to me.



Bingo ! The prompt should be noticeable. Key word being 'should'. As in, " I should have received notice of your reply to my last post but I never did. "

Such is the vagaries of Windows and MS.



Instead of relying on prompts, I configure Windows Updates to allow me whether to download and install them after I've read what MS has published about them.

In all the time I've been updating Windows OS', there has been only one update that ever presented an issue using that method. And, an unexpected system restart has never occurred.



Obviously, you want to have the updates downloaded, installed automatically, and then be provided with a noticeable prompt prior to the restarting of the system.

AFAIK, Group Policy is the only way to guarantee that the prompt will be noticeable in Windows 7. In your situation, I'd set the prompt to more than 10 minutes if you do considerable work that can't be saved and closed in 10 minutes. Set it to at least 30 minutes.

Restarting without User confirmation should never occur. From what I've seen, the notification needs to be made more visible and reliable in Windows 7 without one having to use Group Policy, which is not even available in most editions of Windows 7. In Windows XP there was a noticeable sound when the update icon appeared in the Notification Area and a noticable sound when the system prompted that it was going to restart due to the installation of said updates.

I hear no such sound in Windows 7.

And, what Susan requested was that you send her the WindowsUpdate.log so she can see if the restart was initiated from within another User Account profile -

How to read the Windowsupdate.log file

MowGreen Windows Expert IT Pro - Consumer Security