Win 8 automatic updates interrupting work

Hi All - I'm new here and need some help, please.

System Specs: Dell Inspiron
8 GB RAM
1TB HD
Windows 8 Home Premium
Office 365

I was in the middle of doing a presentation the other day and received a pop up saying the system needed to shut down and update. I hit the "delay" button, but the system continued to count down and then shut off, restarted and for the next 27 minutes I couldn't use the system as it went through the update process. This was enormously frustrating and embarrassing since I was trying to do a client presentation at the time. After this debacle, I reset the update option in Windows to "always ask before downloading or installing updates" and thought this would resolve the problem, allowing me to choose when to download and install any updates. However, this morning, I was working on the laptop (thankfully not when I was trying to do anything important) and the exact same thing happened again. The update options are still set to ask before doing downloads or installs. Can someone, please, tell me how to stop this from occurring again?

FYI: I am not a computer expert, so I'd appreciate an explanation that is designed for the less knowledgeable. Thanks folks -

I've noticed this too. I have selected to delay an update but it restarted regardless, I also had a warning come up that it will restart my PC in two days in order to complete updates. With Windows 7 I would periodically go through manually updating my PC, usually on a Wednesday or Thursday, but have found that many updates don't install correctly when I try and do this with Windows 8, so it would be interesting to see if this is an issue or if it's just something that I didn't set up right when I installed Windows.

I have been using win8 sice Aug/2012 and have never had this happen ,maybe its not windows updates causing you issues but 3rd party programs you have installed ,

Possibly. I was having issues with updates not installing correctly when I first installed Win 8. Yesterday I had the message to say that Windows will restart in 15 minutes to complete an update so I restarted the pc. Once it restarted I got a message to say that windows needs to restart in two days to complete updates so I restarted again and now there are no updates pending as far as I can tell. I think the initial update request might have been for updates started two days ago and then once updated Windows Update could see new updates were available so it informed me of those after the restart.

I turn off all those MS automated updates in the services area and manually update on a weekly basis. It's just easier for me this way.

Thanks for the quick replies and the information. I need to be clearer about the issue: I have disabled all updates and plan to update manually at least once a week. The laptop is very new (I've had it about a week) and I have yet to load any 3rd party software. The only application software is Office 365 and when the system does the update, it is clearly system, not application update. The first this happened, I didn't receive any message saying that the system would shut down in x-minutes. This morning when it occurred, I received a message saying that the system needed to reboot and asking if I wanted to delay or shut down now. I selected delay, but the system went ahead and began the reboot. I double checked to make sure that I had selected manual download/manual install for all updates and it is selected. Weird and irritating!

@ Carney

Just to be sure; you are doing purely manual updating and not allowing Windows update to do anything automatically except check for updates, right? This is how I almost always use Windows update (i.e., sometimes I don't even allow it to check for updates). After all, there is no reason to install every update or to allow MS to get in the way of what you are doing. I'd return the machine if Windows update does not behave consistently with my settings--especially if I have set it to do nothing automatically (except check for updates) (or to not even check for updates).

Thanks for all the great information. I have been in touch with Dell (an always very frustrating experience!) about other issues with this new laptop. The system continues to crash every few hours, the wireless connection keeps shutting down, the keyboard doesn't respond, the track-pad fails to respond, etc. Today, I will contact premium support with hope of reaching someone intelligent and customer friendly. (A long stretch for this company, but...) This shutting down to do auto update even with the auto update shut off is just another problem. I suspect something more than mere software at this point and will try to get Dell to help resolve all the issues promptly. (Another fantasy - can you tell this is not my first Dell?) Thanks again!

bassfisher6522 said:

I turn off all those MS automated updates in the services area and manually update on a weekly basis. It's just easier for me this way.

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Me too. Everytime I get a new computer, I just do an initial update and then turn off automatic updates and just do manual update. It takes forever to shutdown and start-up a PC with all these updates going.
And be careful also when installing 3rd party softwares. Don't just keep clicking next just to get the installation done. Look for "Check updates automatically" and uncheck them. It slows down your PC every time you boot up.