Is it safe to restart a few times when windows update requires you to?

[James202]

Hello

I'm not an expert about computer hardware but I have recently performed a clean installation of windows 7 to my laptop then I had install about 100 updates + drivers to use the software which required me to restart about 10 times, I read online that this can stress the hard drive or some hardware component which has got me concerned about it.

My question: Is it okay if I do about 10 restarts due to windows/drivers asking me to perform the restart action?

 

[NoelDP]

There are always good reasons for Windows Updates to request a restart - and it allows WU to recheck and update the list of required updates.

A clean install of Windows 7 (RTM) currently requires about 99 updates - and then there's SP1 to install, and a number of other items, to get it fully up-to-date.

Short answer - restart as and when requested, or it can actually cause problems.

 

[techtitan100]

my dad's girlfriend got her son a used Dell Latitude 131L from Christmas with Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit, it didn't have Service Pack 1, so I had to start off by installing over 130 updates and then signed up to get products from Microsoft in Windows Update and after the first restart it offed about 21 more including service pack 1 and it took about 30-35 minutes just to get through the restart process and then after Service Pack 1 was finally installed, I had to do 79 more updates, so yes it is normal to have to restart your computer a few times after Windows Update

 

[strollin]

It is true that when a computer is starting up it does stress the power supply more since things like hard drives draw more more power while spinning up. However, unless your power supply is marginal to begin with, this shouldn't pose a problem.

The reason that restarting is necessary during updates is that Windows can't update certain files that are in use while the system is running so needs to restart in order to install them.

Bottom line is, it is safe (and necessary) to restart during windows updates.