Many of the software including the Windows updates require that you reboot your computer soon after the installation of these programs or updates is finished. But this is not possible at all the times for many reasons. For example, if you are in the middle of an important business meeting over Google Hangouts or Skype, then you cannot really afford to restart your Windows PC. But some of these software are so stubborn, then they proceed and initiate the rebooting of Windows, resulting in loss of unsaved work and leaving you grinding your teeth in anger. But there is a simple way to prevent such unwanted shutdowns, reboots and log offs in Windows using the free Shutdown Guard software.
The Shutdown Guard software is available both as a setup installer as well as a portable program. In either case, it places a small lock icon in the Windows desktop’s notification area. You can click on this lock icon to toggle the Shutdown Guard application on or off. You can also open the settings and make Shutdown Guard automatically start with Windows by right-clicking on this notification area icon and selecting the appropriate action.
When you accidentally shutdown or reboot your Windows PC (or some other software initiates the shutdown), Shutdown Guard hinders the attempt and instead an option to shutdown (or reboot or log off) and cancel the shutdown (or reboot or log off) is shown. You can click on the Cancel button to return back to whatever you were doing. Even if you do not click on any buttons on this screen, it returns back to the Windows desktop after a few seconds.
The Shutdown Guard software does not offer the GUI interface for changing the options. Instead, it uses the classic way of changing the INI file to make the changes in Shutdown Guard’s settings. When you open the settings from the notification area icon’s context-menu, it opens the shutdownguard.ini file in Notepad.
In the settings, you can choose a customized message to be displayed when a shutdown or reboot is prevented, run the Shutdown Guard in hidden mode, display a help URL, choose an interface language and choose to automatically check for updates every time Shutdown Guard runs.
Conclusion: You can easily prevent unwanted or accidental shutdowns, reboots or log offs in Windows through the free Shutdown Guard software. This saves you from losing your unsaved data when such accidental shutdowns are initiated by installer programs or updates.
You can download Shutdown Guard from https://code.google.com/p/shutdownguard/.