Endpoint Antivirus - requirement to reboot after update?

[st3fan 8]

Hi everyone

We just finished updating to 7.3.2044.0 which was a nightmare due to the required reboot. What a mission to plan this with all our users. And now I noticed that 8.0.2028.0 has been released and I am seeing the same "computer restart will be required" message. I can't believe this anymore.

Why is this a requirement all of the sudden? Updating ESET was seamless in the past and we never had to bother our users. This has become a logistical nightmare for us. How is everyone else handling this? And does anyone know if this is the new norm now?

Thanks,

Stefan

[Marcos 5,274]

A reboot is required due to changes in intercommunication between the kernel and modules required by future Windows 10 updates.

[st3fan 8]

Thanks for the prompt reply Marcos. Does this mean that all future ESET updates will require a reboot?

[Marcos 5,274]

Not unless changes in Windows 10 will require it. At the moment we don't expect any other program updates requiring a reboot. Also the uPCU updates introduced with v8 will install a newer version after a computer reboot plus we are working on improving the process of driver re-loading which will enable us to avoid the need to reboot.

[Rootaah 0]

Have to say I agree with the OP.  We just did the same thing basically to our fleet we manage as an MSP and now 8.0 drops re-flagging all the systems.  Two questions:

1.  Can you suppress the out of date message / yellow icon.  As an MSP with over 100 clients, 2000+ endpoints, many end users notice this and panic and then call in and wonder why their system is 'out of date.'  Is there any policy I can enable that will prevent such notifications to the end user?  As an MSP, we monitor the web console and deal with it as needed for our clients.

2 . When the status of protection is 'Computer Restart Required', is the system being adequately protected by ESET?  Or is the AV itself no longer properly protecting the workstation?  I like the one-click update tasks and auto-update triggers I can create, but I don't want to do that if it means any system waiting on a restart is not protected until it is restarted.  I can't in good conscience do an Auto-Reboot without figuring out how to do that during a maintenance window within the console.  (that's a 3rd question technically).

[MichalJ 434]

Hello,

1. When you mention "out of date message / yellow icon", you mean the one on the customers computer? This one is only shown in case when either the management agent is not on version 7.2, or when the installed Security software version is within the set defined for EOL due to various issues, described in the banner on the top of this page. Those alerts currently could not be suppressed from the management console, only option is to install the newer version of the Software. 
2. As mentioned by MARCOS, when the "computer restart required", there might be impact on the protection, due to the old drivers being still loaded in the system, so the newer application is not able to work completely. Drivers are reloaded only upon a system restart. Since Endpoint 8.0 you will be able to activate the automatic updates, which use a different method than a complete reinstall, when the incremental update is performed by the application itself, prepared, and upon reboot applied. Application continues to run in its previous state, until reboot is performed. This is as well explained by Marcos in the post above. 

Regards,

Michal 

[mars_ots 2]

@Marcos Is it required to update ESMC to the latest version before deploying latest update on client computers?

[MichalJ 434]

Hello @mars_ots no, even the old ESET Remote Administrator 6.x agents and ESET Security Management Center 7.x agents, should be compatible with the latest endpoint. However, upgrade is recommended. 

[mars_ots 2]

got it @MichalJ thanks!

[Thomas F. 0]

If a restart is required, why not put a big flashing icon on the desktop that alerts the user, pops up again every hour after clicking away, and performs a forced restart after a configurable time?

It takes several days to get our colleagues to reboot because they don't notice it. A small dot on one of several icons in the taskbar is not enough.

Regards,
Thomas

 

[LesRMed 23]

2 hours ago, Thomas F. said:

It takes several days to get our colleagues to reboot because they don't notice it. A small dot on one of several icons in the taskbar is not enough.

I usually schedule a restart task on our people. Seems to be the only way to make sure it gets done.

[rgoldman 2]

Yes I’m hoping we don’t have to reboot after every installation/upgrade. I understand why but as said updates are coming pretty frequent and requiring reboots, which is partially on MS yes. End users need to work and not worry about fixing their computer all the time (@ MS not necessarily ESET). (I feel like a beta tester for MS at this point) It appears to me protection is not active until rebooted, at least on the recent 7x versions (I haven’t tried 8x for this reason yet).

And the SSL/TLS issue is still up in the air.

[Marcos 5,274]

As I wrote, for upgrades from 8.0 to newer versions we will use differential uPCU updates which are small and will install after a computer restart, ie. users will not need to reboot the machines for the new version to work. We are also working on further improvements which will allow upgrade without the need to reboot. The only exception will be probably cases when Device Control integration is enabled and particular devices are in use; this won't won't work without a reboot but other protection features will work without issues.

[Zoltan Endresz 5]

On 12/15/2020 at 12:43 PM, Thomas F. said:

If a restart is required, why not put a big flashing icon on the desktop that alerts the user, pops up again every hour after clicking away, and performs a forced restart after a configurable time?

It takes several days to get our colleagues to reboot because they don't notice it. A small dot on one of several icons in the taskbar is not enough.

Regards,
Thomas

 

 

Hi Thomas, 
My solution is the following:

 

1.:  - I created a dynamic group for collect the computers with error message "Restart required" :

 

2.:  - Then I defined a CRON triggered task for send a pop-up window message into the affected computers:
"Hello Collegue, please restart your computer as soon as possible because an ESET software update...bla..bla" or something like this
You can configure the CRON for example launch the message hourly, every 10 minutes or as you want  

 

It works pretty fine

 

[Thomas F. 0]

On 1/6/2021 at 4:31 PM, Zoltan Endresz said:

 

Hi Thomas, 
My solution is the following:

 

Thanks, I created the task and will see what will happen.

[karlisi 26]

On 1/6/2021 at 5:31 PM, Zoltan Endresz said:

Hello Collegue, please restart your computer as soon as possible because an ESET software update.

You're sure it works? Because earlier in this forum someone from ESET said simple restart don't works, full restart is needed, like with Windows update. Our experience proved this, after restart ESET keeps reporting 'computer must be restarted'. Only solution is to wait till Windows update or execute 'shutdown /r /f' (actually it is possible to run this command using ESET, the problem is, how to pick a time for restart).

[Zoltan Endresz 5]

I really don't know, but the red "Computer restart required" error messages are dissapears, in other words usually I have only a few of them in same time.

So, from my point of view it works.