Windows Updates Could Get Less Frustrating

Microsoft is trying to make Windows more likely to install updates at a time that won’t annoy users. It says it’s doing this with a “predictive model.”

At the moment, Windows will sometimes install an update (and even reboot the machine to complete it) after simply checking that nothing is actively running. Microsoft notes one example of how this might be a problem: when you’ve only left the machine to make a cup of coffee and were planning to go straight back to work.

Amid a flurry of buzzwords, Microsoft explains that with the new system, Windows will try to predict the least disruptive time to reboot. It doesn’t list the specific criteria but the main goal is clearly to try to figure out how long the computer will be unused. That should be a simple enough task if Windows keeps a log of activity over time.

Internal testing has apparently produced “promising results” but Microsoft is asking people to give it feedback to update the prediction model. It says it’s designed the model so that it’s easy to update it quickly as Microsoft learns from this feedback.