I want to turn off the automatic restart for Windows Update on Windows 7 Home Premium. How do I do this?

I agree with you, microsoift should fix this in the next update.   I wonder how they would like it if someone were to wonder into their office and just start randomly unplugging computers while they are in the middle of whatever it is they do??      Prompting before hijacking would take the piratical sting away..

Because these settings, except for setting it to never check for updates, don't prevent Windows from deciding to restart without the user's approval. Simple as that.

I have indeed read the registry update reply and I have also applied it, hoping it works. But a registry edit solution is an emergency solution that is unsuitable for the average non-IT specialist Windows User, not least because of the risk of ruining the system by incorrectly using regedit.

Why Microsoft believes non-specalist users should tolerate losing their work because of such an idiotic design is unbelievable. They have no Control Panel option to stop this, other than telling Windows Update never to check for updates. That would drastically reduce security, but I'm sure if some users are frustrated enough about this Microsoft-induced data-loss-to-prevent-data-loss-by-virus, they'll just turn it off completely. So frustrating is it.

It's as if Microsoft wanted to say to its users, 'if you're stupid enough to buy Microsoft, then you're stupid enough to lose your data.'

Could Microsoft please introduce a generally available option to STOP THIS DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR.

I hope you don't work for Microsoft with that arrogant view. Just because it's security doesn't mean it should override everything without using common sense. The meaning of security is to avoid data loss, right? So in order to enforce security against the users' will, we need to cause loss of their data. What's the purpose of security if it destroys the data it was supposed to protect? It's so stupid it's something one would have expected to find in Monty Python.

I think we should have a gadget mandatorily installed in all Microsoft programmers' cars to automatically shut down the engine every time the deadline for service is passed with a millisecond or every time any potentially safety related maintenance issue comes up. Maybe then they'll understand that they can't just shut down people's computers in the middle of their work.

Oh, and I'm not complaining I don't understand computers. I worked as IBM systems programmer for more than 20 years. IBM systems never shut people's computers down automatically.