I'm looking for a group policy setting or a third-party program that can prevent Windows 10 (and earlier) from a logoff, restart, or shutdown command, initiated by either the user or the system.  I didn't have as many issues with this in Windows 7, however Windows 10 has automatically restarted my computer several times from updates in the middle of me working on something. I know other users have complained about this over the past several months as well. I have also accidentally logged off of my computer once or twice before while I have programs and files open, and it doesn't prompt to close programs or anything of that nature.  I would like to be able to totally prevent the system from logging off, restarting, or shutting down unless I manually close all of my open programs and files first. Does anyone know of a way to do this?  As a note, I've already set the local policy item under Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Shutdown Options for "Turn off automatic termination of applications that block or cancel shutdown" to "Enabled".  :::EDIT:::  I've seen this question:    Unlike that question, I'm asking for a group policy setting (that I haven't already set) or a third-party program that will prevent Windows 10 (and earlier) from not only being shutdown or restarted, but also prevents a log off command. The question linked refers to no program or group policy that will suffice as an answer to my question.
120794
I am running a critical research program on a Windows 7 PC that needs to run uninterrupted for several months. I have had to re-initialize the entire experiment several time due to unexpected restart. Windows Update is disabled, and I have removed automatic updating from all background programs that have an option for it, but I am still getting restarts at random intervals that completely destroy my experiment.   Is there some way to prevent any and all restart requests?
42246
I have been having an issue where, if my system is up for a few days without being rebooted I will start getting warnings saying "Close programs to prevent information loss" and then a dialogue suggesting I close programs, which I can either cancel or hit "close programs" and Windows will force close some or all of the applications listed in the dialog.  I open task manager, and see that only around 30% of my memory is currently being used:    When I open resource monitor to see how much committed memory is being used by specific applications, I still see relatively low memory usage:    I've had this problem for awhile and have struggled to find a solution. I've investigated causes like a driver leak by using poolmon, but never saw anything in poolmon that matched what others have described as red flags for a driver memory leak. What makes me particularly confused is why Win10 is telling me to close applications when I only have 33% of system memory being used.
89652
Is there a way to lock a Windows XP machine via the command line?  The shutdown command doesn't have an option for it.
17407
I just upgraded to Win 10 (RTM build). I have disabled the built in AV's (Defender) real time protection because I do not run it, never did and have never gotten a virus (and I've had a computer for 30 years).  I was able to disable real time scans by turning on the Group Policy's Disable Defender Policy. But this disables the application entirely. Is it possible to use this profile (which I used with Win 7's Security Essentials) with Win10 Defender:   Real time scan off Scheduled scans (2AM) active On demand (shell integration right click) scans active   ?  Or do I have to install a 3rd party scanner? I already run  Premium,  and  (those are protecting in real time, as their impact on performance is minimum), but I would really like to avoid a 3rd party AV.  TIA
76675
Is there a way to stop Task Scheduler on startup?   I ask because I have made mistake while creating task, and now my computer shuts down after 1 min.  That's not enough time to open the Task Scheduler and turn it off.
120414
Is there a Windows standard way to do things such as "start fan", "decrease speed" or the like, from C/C++?  I have a suspicion it might be ACPI, but I am a frail mortal and cannot read that kind of documentation.  Edit: e.g. Windows 7 lets you select in your power plan options such as "passive cooling" (only when things get hot?) vs. "active cooling" (keep the CPU proactively cool?). It seems the OS does have a way to control the fan generically.
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VM software does a great job of saving state when you "turn it off," allowing instant and immediate return to that previous state.  Is there some application for Windows that allows me to do the same thing, for any arbitrary software? It would allow me to save/restore state, possibly via a shell command or button that it appends to every window.  Edit: For clarity, there are two types of apps: those that save their own states, and those that save others' states. Those that save their own state are like Chrome, which on load, reloads the windows you had open last time.  That's not what I'm asking about; I'm asking for an app that can save the state of other apps, kind of like VM software does; but for any app. (A trivial test would be load notepad++, type a bunch of stuff, and save-state; on reset-state, you should be able to multi-level undo a lot of what you wrote, as if you  never shut down the application.)
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I have visited tons of websites and watched dozens of Youtube videos, yet I can't find a solution to my problem.  I recently upgraded my laptop to Windows 10, and now it won't shutdown properly.  I have turned off fast startup and sleep mode from power options.  Here is what happens:   Start menu > Power > Shut down It exits windows and apparently turns off (black screen) The power lights are still on and my computer apparently doesn't shutdown.
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I have an Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Desktop PC with GNOME.   How can I fully disable the reboot/shutdown/suspend/hibernate functions in GNOME or even with root? So that the root gives out the "reboot" or "pm-suspend" command it doesn't do anything, and the machine goes on. How can I fully disable these basic "features"?
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I have a a MacBook Air that works fine except popping up a shutdown dialog if left untouched for a couple of seconds (seems to be a consistent duration around 3 seconds or so). Hitting Cancel or Esc prevents the shutdown.  If I keep fidgeting around with the keyboard or trackpad, there's no shutdown attempt. I can even place something on the Fn key to keep the OS from shutting down.  It seems like some inactivity timeout etc. gone awry.  When taken to the Genius Bar for initial assessment, the guy there said it was probably the power button needing a replacement. But, I don't think this is the case, as the power button is functioning normally: I can still press it to explicitly initiate a sleep/shutdown.  There's a chance this was triggered by water damage. There was a recent water spill incident to which I acted quickly by turning off the machine + turning it upside down + not using it for a long while + keeping it in a box with rice to absorb any leftover humidity. But even if this is a water damage, I can't imagine a damage that manifests itself with this very narrow malfunction of wanting to shutdown on a short period of in activity. Absolutely nothing else seems to be wrong with the machine.  Any pointers? Any things I can try to (a) diagnose the root cause fix or workaround the problem?
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I know how i can disable auto logon in windows 7 by using netplwiz, but is there a way ( possibly a keyboard combination pressed during startup ) that will prevent autologon only for this one boot?
99052
I have found contradictory opinions on this. Some say Windows users tend to shut down but that it is not necessary, and I tend to do that too. Others say it is preferable to shut down, as it does not take too much time to boot anyway, and that in this way the battery is protected. While others say that it is in fact better not to shut down to often, including for the battery, etc. An interesting opinion - cannot find the link for that now - was that shutting down / restarting serves no purpose for Macs, except when that is needed after installing or upgrading applications or the system, unlike in Windows, where shutting down was (is?) very important. Also, that Macs do periodical system maintenance work during operation and even sleep, which eliminates the need for restart; possibly restarting would even come against all this, etc., and &quot;not shutting down&quot; is in fact a typical differentiating Mac feature. Is this true? I need a competent opinion on this - not just a description of the most common use - preferably reflecting some advice from the manufacturer. I have a Macbook Air.   Update after answer: Although I got , a crucial point in it (that the system has to be shut down, but only from time to time) is not yet clear: how often should I shut down the system. So, I will bring my question down to this formula. As pointed out by that answer, my question cannot be answered in relation to a tangible benefit for the system, but rather in relation to the battery life. So, I guess this last point can be answered by some information on how how is battery life dependent on how often the system is shut down.
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When I want to shutdown my PC I click the top right corner and then press the power button after which a dialog pops up with the options: power off, restart, cancel.   Normally this pop up shows up right away. But since a week or so it takes about 30 seconds. During that time I can move my mouse but I can't open applications or do anything else.  When I cancel and try it again, it does open right away.   I didn't change settings or install weird stuff, only some updates of my icon theme. (I apparently had installed the ).  What could be the cause? And how can I diagnose this issue and see what it taking so long?
82472
I would like to disable the "Open File Security Warning" that says "Do you want to run this file?" whenever I double click on an .exe I download. I have Windows 7 Home Premium, so I don't have the group policies editor. I have tried setting a registry value: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Associations, value DefaultFileTypeRisk to 6152, but this did no good. This is the only entry under Associations, incidentally, and it was empty before I added this.  Is there a way to disable this message on my system (other than unblocking each .exe file)?
27854
This questions has been answered previously, e.g. , but all the answers I've seen require using a dropdown in Settings> Update &amp; Security> Advanced Options.  On my version of Windows 10 Pro, there is no such dropdown:    How can I prevent automatic restarts?
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My OS keeps turning off automatic Windows updates without even logging off or restarting the computer.  Action center icon in the task bar warns me about choosing an option for Windows update as if I haven't chosen countless times already.  It started to get really annoying to keep choosing a Windows update option 5 - 10 times a day.   I really appreciate any help you can provide on this matter.  Things I have tried so far;   I have tried  suggested by . Unfortunately didn't help my case Tried following commands; reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update" /v AUOptions /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f  and then sc config wuauserv start= auto as suggested . Googling. Tried few suggestions which didn't help my case.
30809
I would like to configure this windows 10 machine to not ask for a password when resuming from IDLE, but still ask for a password when resuming from STANDBY or HIBERNATE.  The screen needs to turn off after 5 minutes and NOT use a screen saver.  The only information I can find is about disabling the lock screen password entirely - which is not what I want. Whether the lock screen continues to show or not is relevant as long as it doesn't require a password.  Version is Windows 10 Pro. It is also connected to a SBS2011 domain.