yes I had posted a while back that MS was going to be pushing out updates that would go out no matter what your settings were set at you can search here for that thread.

I leave my firefox open all the time and it never shuts down so I would think it has to be in your power saving settings some how. even when my netbook does go into hibernate when it comes out my firefox and everything is right where it was all the tabs are still open on what I was looking at etc.

Thanks, this really has be puzzled. I'm going to be watching FF more carefully and keeping a record of what it does, and hopefully getting rid of the "away" function will do the trick there.
I did read with interest that post you made, and I was ready to have it happen once in a while, but this is every week, and MS never offers me a choice any more. Are all their updates being forced on people this way now? Is there nothing that can be done about it? Pretty high-handed of them, if so! I prefer to make my own decisions and take my own risks. What should they care?

I would try going into your windows update area in control panel and re set your preference there and apply ok, maybe it has lost the setting. It should not be doing it with all of them no. I know it has happened to several of my friends the way you mentioned when they went to close down they got the notice and they were not happy either.

I have gone into the update area several times, and it is always the same, with a checkmark (dot) next to "Download updates for me, but let me decide when to install them," just the way I wanted it. I have tried resetting it and hitting Apply and OK, too. Just did it again. We'll see. Maybe it will work sometime, but this is getting old.

Biwako are you sure these programs are closing or could it be that the computer is rebooting during your absence? Check you Event viewer to see if there are any issues reported there.

Also, doesn't Firefox report an unexpected closing after the reboot and you click to open it? Mine will offer to re-open any pages open before the unexpected closing or start with a fresh window.

Regarding Word, you should check your settings because if I remember correctly Word saves every 10 minutes by default. Find your options window and set it to save every five minutes perhaps even and note where it is saved to. MS sets it to save inside the program but I never like that and redirect it to a folder I created inside My documents for easy backup. Nothing worse than hunting all over a computer for files saved within the different programs.

"Download updates for me, but let me decide when to install them"

If this is the setting you have checked, that is exactly what Microsoft is doing. It is downloading the updates and leaving it up to you to actually install them. I think the choice you should have checked is

"Notify me but don't automatically download or install them."

Hope this helps.

Thanks. I have changed it. I didn't realize I had checked the wrong box at some point. Now perhaps things will get back to where I want them.

I wonder how MS could be "letting me decide when" to install updates, if it doesn't even let me know what they are. But I feel sure that your suggestion is the way to go.

it should not have been installing them and then letting you know so even if you had that option selected rather than the notify me but don't download or install you should have been told and asked if you wanted to install them.
the fact that it was installing them with out asking is the point which is at issue. Hopefully it will not continue.

To be strictly accurate, it wasn't installing them and then letting me know. It was telling me I could let them be installed at shut down or refuse them, but I didn't know what I was refusing or accepting. I often refused, out of sheer annoyance, but that was getting scary, because I could unknowingly be refusing something vital to my PC.

Previously, I would have a choice of looking at the items proposed for installation and only putting a check mark by the ones I wanted. Generally I rejected fixes for IE, because just about the only time I use it is when I want to see a video on CNN. But can my computer be in danger without those fixes, even if I don't open IE?

I will post again when I see how things may have (hopefully) changed the next time MS downloads come along.

Yes, even if you do not use IE, if you have it on your computer (and we all do, even not by choice), you are at risk if you do not do the security updates for IE.

I think now your MS downloads will be the way they were, allowing you to choose the ones you wish to be downloaded and installed.

yes all critical updates listed in the windows update list should be done, even for programs you do not use, if they are on the pc and have a hole in them which creates a vulnerbility it has to be patched or you are wide open to intrusion, makes no difference how often you use it. If you choose to not move up to IE8 and keep IE7 you still need to do any updates issued for that version of IE.

this is why the secuina tool is so helpful to keep us updated on all the things we need to be updated on.
Secunia Online Software Inspector

be sure if it shows java or flash or adobe needs updating to do them they are huge risks for infections with out the latest updates. You should only have the latest versions on your pc, once you have the latest version you can go to add remove programs and remove the older versions to keep the pc safe.

Thanks for the tips and the link to Secunia. I am downloading the updates right now.