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Windows 10 To Use Machine Learning in Latest Attempt To Make Reboots Less Annoying (arstechnica.com)

Posted by msmash on from the up-next dept.

The next semi-annual update to Windows 10 will use machine learning models to make automatic rebooting for updates a bit less annoying. From a report: Currently, Windows will detect if you're away from your system (mouse and keyboard idle and not playing video or anything comparable) and perform its reboots during those idle moments. However, at the moment, the system doesn't distinguish between briefly stepping away from the machine to grab a cup of coffee and being away for hours because you've left the office or gone to bed. This has provoked some amount of complaining due to the updates interrupting work. With the new predictive system, Windows will try to distinguish between these two cases, and it will avoid the update if the absence is expected to be short.

11 of 277 comments (clear)

  1. How about not blowing away work? by Drethon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What if I've left something open that I don't want to lose and leave it open for the night or keep it running overnight while not logged in? Yeah I know, save before you leave the machine for the former, but there are times I don't want to save changes yet and am just too stubborn to save to a temporary file and silly me expects a machine to continue running if I don't tell it to shut down...

    1. Re:How about not blowing away work? by r_naked · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What if I've left something open that I don't want to lose and leave it open for the night or keep it running overnight while not logged in? Yeah I know, save before you leave the machine for the former, but there are times I don't want to save changes yet and am just too stubborn to save to a temporary file and silly me expects a machine to continue running if I don't tell it to shut down...

      It baffles me how people tolerate their OS doing things they don't want it to. If my OS just up and decided now was a good time to reboot, I would ditch that OS in a heartbeat.

      This is not a Windows bashing or Linux advocacy post, this is just my opinion on how ANY OS should work.

      I don't know, maybe you can turn that option off in Windows. I haven't used Windows since 7, and I know I could back then. Has MS removed that from Win 10?

      -- Brian

      --
      -- http://anonet.org -- The internet the way it was meant to be. Check it out, you may be surprised.
    2. Re:How about not blowing away work? by infolation · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's Machine Learnings. So...

      step one: gather information about everything the user does on the computer
      step two: broadcast that information back to MS HQ (because the ML happens in the 'cloud')
      step three: if anyone's still annoyed, blame the lack of ML input data, and increase step one.

    3. Re:How about not blowing away work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Many things aren't saveable, e.g. private browsing sessions, and debug state.

    4. Re:How about not blowing away work? by johnw · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I would echo the same sentiment. There's never an excuse for your OS to re-boot your machine without your explicit permission. Everyone else manages to do this properly - why can't Microsoft manage it?

      On the abuse front, there's been another story recently about the progress of ReactOS, with a lot of people commenting on how 1990s the interface looks. The thing is - it's infinitely superior to the current Windows 10 interface. Clean, comprehensible, compact.

      I've spent some time over the last couple of days trying to assist an 81 year-old lady who is utterly bamboozled by here Windows 10 computer. It baffles me too. So much usability and clarity has been sacrificed in the move to Windows 10, all in the name of the latest fashion. She wants her old computer back, but alas it seems to be broken.

      Back in the late 80s and early 90s a lot of work went into trying to create totally consistent user experiences. Now the drive seems to be to move in the opposite direction, and users are paying the price.

  2. Machine learning can do anything by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Except, of course, make Windows 10 less annoying.

  3. Windows 10 updates are a plauge by sinij · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I really don't understand why you need to create policy to prevent Windows updates during working hours. There is absolutely nothing so urgent in these updates that cannot wait until I log off. Microsoft insisting that these updates pushed out on their schedule and not on user's schedule is ultimate hubris.

  4. I have a better solution by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just don't make ANY reboots 'automatic', let the user decide when that happens and trigger it manually.

    Or, you know, you could dump Microsoft entirely and get Linux, and take back control over your hardware.

  5. Chuckle by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The next semi-annual update to Windows 10 will use machine learning models to make

    ...spying on users more effective.

    The only things Microsoft has to do to make reboots less annoying is 1) ask first and 2) let you postpone the reboot indefinitely. They don't need machine intelligence, they need human intelligence. Only, let's face it, they're not even trying to give the users what they want any more, since that includes not being spied upon.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  6. Want Happier Customers? Stop Forced Reboots. by mykepredko · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Isn't the most obvious solution to the problem is to have stable software that doesn't require reboots when an update is provided.

    I can see needing updates for AV tools (ie Windows Defender) which should be updating signature databases as well as maybe Edge updates which would require the browser to end and restart. If other aspects of the software requires updating, there should be approaches to allow it without causing a reboot.

    I've always found Microsoft's update process to be quite annoying with what seems to be two out of every three updates resulting in a reboot. Ubuntu, on the other hand, seems to require a reboot once every 5-10 times.

    I think Microsoft has grown too accustomed to accepting reboots after updates and maybe looking at it from a different perspective (ie Reboots are bad, not something we need machine learning to schedule) would be a win-win.

    --
    Mimetics Inc. Twitter
  7. Re:40 Minutes! by MachineShedFred · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Or there's this idea:

    "Hey, there's updates to apply. Is now good, or please tell me when it would be best for you (ask again in 1 hour) (ask again in 3 hours) (ask again in 6 hours) (ask again tomorrow)"

    Why is "machine learning" needed, unless the learning just involves asking the fucking user?

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