18 PCWorld APRIL 2019NEWS WINDOWS 10 REBOOT PERMISSION
The three authors (Jason
Morris, Ingolf Becker, and
Simon Parkin) recommended
that operating systems like
Windows 10 obtain explicit
permission for restarts to
apply Windows Update
patches.
The paper, though,
acknowledges the
fundamental tension at the
heart of providing updates.
Microsoft’s approach of
choosing unilaterally when to
fix bugs, patch vulnerabilities,
and provide new features
means users lose a little control
of their PCs.
“Crucially, the system
operates independently of the
user’s working context,” the
paper said. “The outcome is a
maximally secure system, but one that
impedes the primary task. We suggest that
the update model in Windows 10 Home
Edition sits towards this end of the spectrum.”WHAT WINDOWS 10 HOME
NEEDS TO CHANGE
Though some of the process takes place
behind the scenes, the authors constructed
the above awe-inspiring flowchart of the
Windows 10 Home update process.
The paper’s conclusions are fairlystraightforward: Users need more
information about updates and more control
over when they happen, and Microsoft
should simply never reboot the PC to install
an update when the system’s in active use.
While the users polled by the study
ultimately concluded that the updates have
value, the study’s authors concluded that
Windows did not explicitly notify users of
what update it was applying (a security patch
versus a feature update) and about how
much time that update would take.Consumer Reports pulled its recommendation of the Surface
Laptop, even though the notebook wasn’t covered in the survey.