Configure Automatic updates to avoid problems with autotrader.

I am currently subscribed to "Have Fun" trading system. Usually I set up the computer the night before to enable it to start trading as soon as markets open. This is 6:30AM California time and I admit that for me being up and awake at 6:30 sometimes is easier said then done.

This morning by the time I made it to my computer it was already close to 7:30. Looking at my laptop I noticed a Windows log in screen, rather than a familiar auto trader screen. As I logged in I saw a "friendly" Windows pop up which informed me that windows installed system updates and a restart was required. I scrambled to log on to Collective2 web site to see if I missed any trades and sure enough I missed a trade signal. It is just my luck that the reset happen to occur today rather than the previous 5 days when there were no trade signal generated at all.

Trying to guess if I should enter the trade, I decided that the price level was close enough so I fired up the trading application and I was in. I felt a little reassured as immediately my profit was starting to build up. When I returned to my laptop at the end of the day I was sad to find that the trade ended up being unprofitable after all.

So, if you would like to avoid this type of emotional roller coaster please make sure that automated processes on your machine are not going to wake up some time in a middle of the day or at night before the trading session. There are two control panels you should check. Go to start menu, then select control panels. First one is Automatic Updates. Second one is Program Updates. Go through every program listed and schedule updates in a way where you are not going to be interrupted during trading hours or at night before the trading session. I have set mine for Saturday night. Now if you forget to leave your lap top fired up on a weekend, you may still have problems come Monday morning. If you really paranoid about this, you can set it for manual updates, but then you have to deal with the hassle of overseeing the update process which will sap a lot of time out of you.

Another pitfall for laptop users - do not plug in your laptop into a switched outlet! Even if it is turned on at the time you set your system up, does not mean that someone will not turn it off and cause your laptop to be off during trading hours. Seems obvious, but... been there, done that, have a T-shirt.

In any case, consider yourself warned and happy trading!