I'm sick of everything requiring a restart!

[superboyac]

Who else is sick of every little update/install/uninstall requiring a restart?  Man, I just went through a series of them where they all wanted a restart.
Just a little rant on my part.

[lanux128]

if you're installing a lot of programs, you can hold back the reboots and do it only once at the end of the installation. alternatively check if the reboot is necessary with WhyReboot?.

[mwb1100]

Who else is sick of every little update/install/uninstall requiring a restart?

Me too - I usually ignore the reboot request and things usually seem to work fine. Sometimes I'll get wonky behavior, then I go ahead and reboot if I really want to use what I just installed.

What I really hate is those programs that say you need to reboot but don't give you the option to reboot later.  Sometimes it's not even clear that the installer is going to go ahead and shut everything down and reboot whether you like it or not.

And don't get me started on the occasional automatic reboot that Microsoft's Windows Update will sometimes do in the middle of the night.  Even when you thought that auto updates were off.  Grrr.... 

[justice]

Try vVsta, it can stop and start device drivers and most updates without requiring a restart. It's really a lot better.
If you're stuck with XP, try net stop "Automatic Updates" and continue working until you want to restart.

[f0dder]

Lots of times, the installers throw the "now you must restart" as a blanket statement, even though it's not necessary. Other times, it's because the developers are stupid and don't know how to start a newly installed service, and depend on a system reboot + automatic service startup.

Often, common sense works. You installed something simple-ish that didn't install any drivers? Don't reboot. OK, it installed a service? If the app doesn't work, try services.msc and see if you can start it's services manually.

[superboyac]

WhyReboot is cool, thanks.
Yeah, I know that I usually don't have to restart, but I was just venting because it happened like 3 times in one hour last night.  And my computer is slow (6 year old workhorse!) so it takes a while to reboot.

[Curt]

You know, when I woke up this morning, I said to myself:
"I think I'd like to reboot my computer several dozen times today."


http://exodusdev.com/products/whyreboot

However, ...Edited: deleted, as the latest update is from December 2007.

[zridling]

This is one of the cool things I've found with Linux. Programs don't require a restart (hardware and some UI changes require you to logout/login at most); you can even update to the new version of either a program or the entire OS while using it. When you open it the next time, voila! it's updated.

But yeah, why a 500k non-OS utility program requires a reboot is ridiculous.

[lanux128]

ah, the simplicity of linux. on the other hand, if you take the Dark side then a reboot is a must if you're installing software related to anti-virus, backup, virtual drives, <insert your favourite software category> or plain Microsoft..

[superboyac]

I'd love to go to Linux and I read your saga, Zaine, but I just am too attached to my windows software right now to do it.

[zridling]

Nothing wrong with going with what you love, superboyac! Switching is a process. While the UI/desktop environments between Windows and KDE/Gnome/Xfce transfer well, I personally think the only thing you have to unlearn is what you know about the file system. The Linux file system is similar to the DOS or Windows file systems in many ways, but it is radically different in many others. Being new to Linux, my experience is that there are just enough similarities to give us Windows users a false sense of security when they initially start learning about the file system. Then, as we dig deeper and start working with more advanced tasks, they start to get frustrated.

Seriously, it takes about 1-2 hours and you're comfortable with it.

[nontroppo]

...but I just am too attached to my windows software right now to do it.

You'd be surprised how quickly new attachments can form... 

[superboyac]

You know, I'd be willing to try out a Linux system soon, once I get a little time.  I can just create a partition on my laptop and see how it goes.  If Zaine can enjoy the software, I can too.  Zaine, maybe you should make a Great Software List for Linux also!