Splash Displaying with EES 6.6.2072.2 for Windows

[plex 2]

We are deploying Endpoint Security 6.6.2072.2 for Windows (from 6.4.2014.0) with a policy to not display the splash screen.  After the upgrade occurs and EES is launched for the first time, the splash screen is displayed even though there is a policy to not display the splash screen.  It does not display if you log off and back in again, or on reboot.

[plex 2]

Just noticed on another system after the upgrade, in addition to the splash displaying, an "all moduled updated" notification displayed despite a policy not to display such notifications.

[plex 2]

Also seeing Windows notifications as well.  Shortly after this displays and checking the GUI, there are no issues showing.  But, there is a reboot required showing in the console, so I'm guessing this is being displayed due to the reboot requirement.

I'm going to guess that none of our polices are applying immediately after the upgrade occurs.

[plex 2]

Since there hasn't been a response, I'm hoping you were able to recreate this issue and are working on a fix before responding?

If this is the case, is there an ETA on a fix?  We are holding off on our 6.4 -> 6.6 upgrade for Windows machines until we hear back.  We would prefer to not risk user phone calls to the support desk due to notifications showing up if we can avoid it.

[Marcos 5,074]

First of all, did you contact customer care regarding this? Please note that this forum is intended chiefly for sharing the knowledge among ESET's users and moderators. However, a proper channel for reporting issues to ESET and to have them tracked and handled properly is contacting your local customer care.

[MichalJ 434]

Just to let you know, I have reported it to our QA, and they have replicated the issue, and are tracking a bug for it. There is currently no ETA for the release of a fix. 

[plex 2]

Thanks.   Although I opened a ticket for this issue and was told it was expected behavior.

[Marcos 5,074]

While the display of the splash screen is a so-called per-user setting, I reckon that a policy applied to Endpoint v6+ should override both global and per-user settings. In Endpoint v5, it was necessary to enable the appropriate option Suppress user settings if such setting was already changed by a user.

[plex 2]

Our current policy locks all settings with a password.  Therefore, users cannot change any of the settings.  We originally deployed ESET for the first time last year with version 6.4.2014.0, replacing Symantec Endpoint Protection.  With SEP, we could upgrade versions without users knowing it.  No splash screens, no notifications, no calls to the support desk.

This is our first update to EES in our environment since initial deployment.  We have a small group of about 20 machines that we have been testing newer versions.  The last version they had before getting 6.6.2072.2 was 6.6.2068.0.  No splash or notifications were displayed so we didn't expect any issues.  Originally we were about to deploying 6.6.2068.0 but it was pulled from the repository the day we went to deploy.  6.6.2072.2 became our only 6.6 option.  Since the 6.6.2068.0 to 6.6.2072.2 went well for our test group, we figured we would be ok to proceed.

Unfortunately this has been a nightmare.  Despite numerous email notifications to users warning of popups from ESET, we are getting calls about EES needing activation, modules out of date, firewall not functioning, protocol filtering not functioning, anti-phishing protection not functioning, and a reboot is required.  Users panic due to getting these warnings even though we have warned them.

To make matters worse, even after a user reboots, many of these notifications are not clearing up until after a second reboot.

We have 1800 Windows machines to update.  We've only done 300 this week.  We thought we would be done by now.  We even tried the no GUI setting to see if it would help, sadly it hasn't.  Initially we used the ERA console to push out the update.  This ended with many failures due to users switching from ethernet to wireless or shutting down before the download completed.  Why doesn't the download try to continue if interrupted?  Seems like you could try several times before failing the task.  Due to these failures, we have had to switch deployment to our client management software in order to ensure the installer gets downloaded completely.  We are also doing this because we can hopefully avoid more calls by setting the install to start after the user logs in so hopefully EES will get installed and splash screen and notifications will show before they start working, use PowerPoint in meetings, or screen sharing with remote offices.

Conversely, our upgrade of 800 Mac users went great.  Users had no idea they got upgraded.  No splash screen, no notifications, no drama.  Exactly what we expected.

If this truly is the expected and intended behavior, I would like to beg ESET to please get this resolved before our next upgrade cycle.  It's leaving a very bad impression in people's minds about the product.  It's becoming very difficult to convince users/managers/C-level that ESET is truly better than our Symantec protection.

Are we doing something wrong?  Is there anything we can do to stop the notifications and the support desk calls?  Should I open a ticket again?  We want to deploy a new version of the product without a user knowing about it.  Is that too much to ask?

[MichalJ 434]

@plex I have sent you a private message. The issues you are describing should not be considered normal, and we will do our best to properly investigate them, and prevent them in the future. We will try to replicate your setup internally, so if you can send us snapshot of a configuration from the client / policy that is being applied, it might help us to understand it better, so we can replicate the issue and prevent it from happening in the future.