Yes That's Normal

[Jay 2K Winger]

I just... I seriously wonder how some of these people got employed by The Client. These people are supposed to be smart.

Just had a luser call up because his workstation has a message that keeps popping up that he needs to restart his computer in order for software updates to complete. You know, the typical message you get when Windows has an update to finish.

He wanted to know if this was normal.

J2K: "...yes, that's normal."
Luser: "So should I restart my computer?"
J2K: "Yes."
Luser: "Okay! Just wanted to be sure."

Really? I mean, I'll admit, I'm not familiar with how that kind of thing works for non-Windows computers, but that should be fairly obvious, right?

...I'm sorry, I forgot where I was for a moment. :sigh:

[Chromatix]

On the Mac, the Software Update utility tells you that a reboot is needed *before* it starts to actually update anything. When you confirm, it actually goes through the shutdown process there and then, and performs the update once the user is completely logged out. Not all updates require a reboot, altough perhaps more than absolutely necessary.

Linux does it in a variety of ways depending on distro. Ubuntu is the most common, and does it more similarly to Windows than the Mac - but without the annoying messages. The "shutdown" icon in the top-right simply turns red, and the machine will keep running normally until the user decides to reboot. (This assumes that updates are set to automatic - there is a more explicit reminder if it is done manually.) The only updates that actually require a reboot are those which update the kernel or a small number of critical system libraries.

[Teskeria]

Don't you wish you could add something like "and remember to stand on one foot, with a hand on your left knee and the other on your head until the system is totally back on."