Options for Delaying Restart after Patching

["Hahues, Sven" <shahues () FGCU EDU>]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to find out if some of you could share what some of the approaches you have taken when handling the 
post-patching required restart of the client computers in your environment.  We would like to have the flexibility for 
the staff to opt out/postpone the otherwise mandatory restart for 12-24 hours or so however, have countdown timer on 
the desktop to indicate the restart is still required (and can be accomplished at any time) or it will be done without 
any user intervention when the countdown expires.  

We have been experimenting with a tool that has been unsupported for the last 5 years or so with mixed results and 
inconsistencies reported by the test group.  There are paid 3rd party tools/services available but we would prefer to 
do this in-house at minimal expense.  

We are aware of current tools/methods in which the User is repeatedly prompted but we would prefer the constantly 
visible countdown timer.  

Could you guys share some of your approaches?

Thanks in advance and have a great weekend,

Sven

Sven Hahues
Florida Gulf Coast University
Director, ITS Helpdesk, Network Services & Security
Tel: (239) 590 1337
E-Mail: shahues () fgcu edu