Everyone hates when you install or update software, and it demands that you restart your computer. I never understood why with Windows XP, when you did a forced restart, a couple very annoying things happen:
#1 If you have multiple users on your computer, it goes back to the "welcome" screen to choose which user to log onto - if you are doing a restart because of an install or update, the operating system should know that you want to get logged back into the same account you were using!
#2 The application does not start.
The first one is most surprising to me, and makes it much more difficult to hit "restart" on the install dialog, and then leave the room to grab a snack while the computer reboots. The second one would just be a nice to have.
It looks like with Windows Vista, and Windows Installer 4.0, you can now do #2 above! From MSDN (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa372466.aspx):
Does anyone know whether they fixed/improved case 1? It seems like a natural feature to add to the system restart API.
#1 If you have multiple users on your computer, it goes back to the "welcome" screen to choose which user to log onto - if you are doing a restart because of an install or update, the operating system should know that you want to get logged back into the same account you were using!
#2 The application does not start.
The first one is most surprising to me, and makes it much more difficult to hit "restart" on the install dialog, and then leave the room to grab a snack while the computer reboots. The second one would just be a nice to have.
It looks like with Windows Vista, and Windows Installer 4.0, you can now do #2 above! From MSDN (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa372466.aspx):
Register applications for a restart using the RegisterApplicationRestart function. Restart Manager can only restart applications that have been registered for restart. Restart Manager restarts registered applications after the installation. If the installation requires a system restart, Restart Manager restarts the registered application after the system restart.
Does anyone know whether they fixed/improved case 1? It seems like a natural feature to add to the system restart API.