Just did (or was trying anyway) to do a render that takes at least 8 hours.  Started it went to bed and when I checked to see the master piece (my opinion here ) :)  I discovered that windows had decided to update and rebooted the computer. @#$%#  lost all that data and time!  Yes I have a back up but I still had made tweeks and changes to the master which have to be made again.

Yeah I know this is Windows deal, but it screwed with my VUE!!!!!!! 

Been there done that!  Nothing worse than losing time and having to start back at go.
Hang in there and keep at it no matter the setbacks.

If you can't turn off updates (hate it also, been there had it do that) unplug your cable if you aren't doing a network render.

I feel your pain.
I remember the first time that happened to me, total & utter frustration. I wanted my pc & the window to be as one!!
I now have automatic updates off, I guess we have to learn the hard way.

I have auto updates off on Vista and it still updates.

mmh... i guess Vue can't do nothing against something like this happening   ...

I, too, get updates on Vista (don't know, which OS you are running), but i have it set, to inform me of new updates and only start updating if i answer yes. Otherwise the question window is hovering forever on the desktop, not harming my Vue renders.

If i have scenes, which will take very long (first i do a small and fast 320x200 final/broadcast/superior, whatever render quality i want in the final render and for a estimate calculation i recalculate the time for the final wanted resolution), i often render them in steps, a few hours here - an hour or more there - by using the render resume function of Vue.

The first time working with Vue i've learned my lessons, too, meaning a lot of times i forgot to save the very latest scenery design and settings and start a render. I've had crashes and things edited before were gone.
So, since then, my last step after changing something - one, a few or many changes, doesn't matter - i save the scene and before i hit render, i automatically check the save icon, if it's greyed out - only then i'm clear to give the render a go ...

I had the same surprise this morning.

I as not in the middle of a render but after 5 months of random shutdown at night, I thought I was right back into my old problems.

I wish M$ would have some kind of warning or ask for a delay ... but I'm not holding my breath on that one.

Quote - I wish M$ would have some kind of warning or ask for a delay ... but I'm not holding my breath on that one.

You do know you can change the settings so that it doesn't automatically install updates, don't you ?

I know that ... and I thought I had it set up that way.

What I meant is that, even if you have automated install on, the OS should have safeguards to prevent automated restarts with no regards to what was running at the time.

Something like "This update installed automatically as requested but will require a restart - Yes / No ?" is not too much to ask.

At least tell us you had it set to save the info so it could restart the render!

The one that has started to annoy me is software that auto updates and then pops up a message along the lines of:

"Would you like to restart now or later Yes / No?  (If you do not respond in 10 minutes your system will automatcially restarted."

Basicly assuming that if you don't respond you're the kind of person who just leaves their machine on all the time and won't care if what it was running is terminated.  Most of the software I've spotted doing this doesn't really need to be updated this instant but someone somewhere feels its that important.   Worse still is one package that came installed on my Vista machine that would ask every 10 minutes until you gave in and restarted it.  It got uninstalled very quickly...

That can really be annoying.  It has happened to me, too.  Now I unplug my cable modem and close, not just disable, my antivirus/security software.  Now I know I am safe from those updates and have more resources available.  Leave a post-it on your keyboard to remind you to turn the security stuff back on!! 
I also like to run long renders after a fresh restart so I know there are no pesky updates for JAVA or Adobe that have been hiding.  They usually run when the computer starts up.

Good luck.  

My Windows XP Professional machines wait until I give the Okay. My Windows Home/Media Center machines don't. Possibly Microsoft determines one's worth based on what they paid Microsoft for their O/S?

My Vue 6 RenderCows work (mostly) under Linux, so I'm happy. I'm trying to fix the Wine source code - since I have it - to eliminate the "mostly" part.

You have 4 choices on Autoupdates:

1. Automatic: Downloads, Installs and Reboots
2. Download Updates for me, but let me choose when to install them.
3. Notify me but don't Automatically download or install updates.
4. Turn Off Automatic Updates
   And there is a time in the beginning when you are prompted after an Autoupdate, download,
   and install to reboot and if you check the little box to remember to reboot everytime then that 
   is why Windows reboots. Don't check "Remember this setting". For now take Option 4 and wait about a week then do a manual Update and Don't check the box when it prompts to reboot. 
   @ Paula, Sorry we don't have Vista up here at work yet for me to work on, so I am unfamilier with it's intricate settings, but there should be some Deep Rooted Setting to fix that. Have you been to the Autoupdates Overview Folder found in  Control Panel/Autoupdates/How Does Autoupdates Work?