program compatability yeh,, but TURN OFF AUTO UPDATES

Well just been thru a long thread on whether ol prgms are compatible with Vista.. that is still up there..
I bought a new laptop with home premium.. Lots of 'fun' and nights trying to load ol programs ..
But Now something new:
Working away at a project, with a preloaded program..
well, in was an important letter, not the Grand Theory.. and hey what the ;;,, it is shutting down,,,
well being a XPpro er,, I ofcourse checked off the lil box .. like lots of you will / did for auto updates,, remember ,, well Vista has a new Idea... screw what your doing.. if it comes in with a new update , it can SHUT YOU DOWN RIGHT NOW, IN THE MIDDLE... AND DO IT'S UPDATE.. AND RESTART..
NO questions asked,, it just happened, dragged the computer out from under me and took over,,,
now what happens if this happens, or would it? during a conference link up,, or you just are about to finish the final touches on that
photo touch-up in photoshop you should have saved 30min ago during which you had some slick manouvering... what then?
so for me...
Fridays,, I will check MANUALLY FOR UPDATES THANK YOU when I know
that nothing is going to be pulled away from under me..

Anyone else have this happen yet????
david