How to Deactivate Windows 7 and Install on Another Computer

Windows 8 will not automatically restart your computer after installing an update

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With some confidence I can say that all of us have been a victim of the diabolical, automatic 3am Windows Update restart. You might be watching a movie or you might be slaying a boss in World of Warcraft, or perhaps you simply left your computer on over night — possibly with some unsaved work — and blam! Windows Update strikes. If you're a geek, it only happens once — usually after setting up a new computer and forgetting, yet again, to disable automatic updates — but for most consumers, it's just a fact of Windows life. But not for long! With Windows 8, Microsoft is finally fixing Windows Update to behave a little more sensibly.

Starting with Windows 8, Windows Update will consolidate every restart-requiring patch into just one restart, on Patch Tuesday — the second Tuesday of every month, when security updates are distributed. This means that you might receive a critical Office patch throughout the month, but your computer will wait until Patch Tuesday to actually restart the computer. Microsoft says that zero-day vulnerabilities can still be patched on an immediate basis with out-of-band updates, but this will only occur if "the security threat is dire enough."

Secondly, instead of popping up a system tray notification (and dropping you out of your fullscreen late-night Left 4 Dead session, grrr!) Windows Update will now use the login screen to tell you about an impending restart. Three days before the restart, an orange warning will appear (pictured above), and then on day two and three, "Update and restart" will be added to the power button (similar to how Windows 7 handles it, in fact — pictured below right). If you ignore the repeated warnings for three days, Windows goes ahead and restarts automatically.

Except — and this is the Big Reveal — Windows 8 can now detect when restarting would result in a loss of data! This means that if your computer is locked, you have apps running, or if there's any unsaved work, Windows Update will patiently wait until you next log in before triggering an update. In other words, Windows 8 will only ever automatically restart when a human is sitting in front of it. IT administrators: All of these changes can be altered by group policies.

Finally, a few other tweaks: If you don't allow Windows to automatically download and install updates (a full 6% of Windows users, apparently), Windows 8 will use the login screen to tell you that updates are ready to download. When an automatic restart actually begins, it now checks to see if you're in fullscreen mode before proceeding — i.e. if you're gaming, or giving a presentation, Windows 8 will wait until a suitable moment to prompt you.

For more information, hit up the Building Windows 8 blog. There's some interesting stats on how many computers Windows Update services (800 million!), how quickly those updates occur (90% within three days), and more.

Check out ExtremeTech's complete Windows 8 coverage

How to Deactivate Windows 7 and Install on Another Computer

Source: https://www.extremetech.com/computing/104999-windows-8-will-not-automatically-patch-and-restart-your-pc-while-playing-wow

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