Please do not Power off or unplug your machine

[MWAKA]

I am using a Dell laptop with Windows Vista, bought it just last month. I dont have any problem or error with its performance but today for the third time in last two weeks i got the message as mentioned above in the subject line. While turning on my laptop, this message comes with

"Please do not Power off or unplug your machine
Installing Update 3 of 5
(Or Installing 5 of 5)"

Though i leave the computer for about half an hour, it remains on the same screen. The only way to get rid of the same is by turning off and unplug the machine to let it start windows. This is very annoying. I have been using XP for long years and have ran Windows Updates but never came through such situation. Is it really Updates or any Virus creating the problem? Any help would be appreciated.

[Sulolab]

It is a normal behavior dude. there are several Automatic updates which take long long time to get installed. This happens in XP as well, i have been through this problem several times but we should never shut down the system during this problem because it may cause heavy damage.

[MWAKA]

I appreciate your input Sulolab. I know huge updates take long time to install but if it takes even one hour or a little more, it would be fine but after several hours I thought it might in dead loop then I decided manually turned off windows and even I had to unplug the machine. Also when i do this and restart system, Windows boot fine and also dint find any other thing wrong.

[Sulolab]

Yeah, you are correct. Waiting for several hours is definitely bad, and even I would've done the same as you did. There's really no other choice at that point. And I would have scanned for damage afterwards (chkdsk and fsk, for example).

[CaPnK]

I am sorry but that link didn't tell us anything about this problem in this thread. I waited for a full 48 hours before I finally shut it down. I then did a system restore and checked updates again, only to be going through this same crap again.

[EINSTEIN_007]

I am sorry but that link didn't tell us anything about this problem in this thread. I waited for a full 48 hours before I finally shut it down. I then did a system restore and checked updates again, only to be going through this same crap again.

Have you tried to system restore in safe mode, to eliminate the problem? If not then follow the below method by login into safe mode:

1. Click Start, type system restore in the Start Search box or Search programs and files, and then click System Restore under the Programs section.
   
   • If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
2. On the System Restore page, click Next.
3. Select a restore point at which you know that the operating system was working, and then click Next.
   
   • The restore point should be a date before the first time that you experienced the problem that is described in the "Symptoms" section. To select a date, use the Choose a different restore point option, and then click Next.
4. If you are prompted to specify the disk to restore, select the hard disk on which the operating system is installed, and then click Next.
5. On the Confirm your restore point page, click Finish.
6. When the restoration process is complete, click Restart.