Many people have changed their Windows Update settings to download updates but not install them so they don’t end up with Windows wanting to restart while they are in the middle of an important project or maybe even a sales presentation. When you shut down your PC, you have the option of installing any pending updates at that time. Or at least it was an option until Windows 7. Now when you go to Shutdown in the Start menu, there is no option to shut down without installing updates. Anyone who doesn’t see the problem with that has never needed to shut down their laptop in a hurry so that can get to an important meeting when they get the news that 17 Windows updates will be installed. Or worse yet are the unlucky few trying to shut down their desktop PC in a power outage while the battery backup warns them they have less than 5 minutes of battery power remaining. Good luck if you lose power half way through installing an update.
I finally discovered a simple answer to this problem. The Alt+F4 key combination is a standard Windows command to shut down the current application. If you use it from the Windows desktop, it will shut down Windows and there will be a choice in the drop down list to shut down without installing updates.
