Antivirus Change

In the past, DeSales has used Cylance as its antivirus vendor for endpoint protection. However, a collective decision was made to change the antivirus vendor to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE). Once your device is onboarded to MDE, it will undergo several changes to enhance its security. After your device is onboarded, the green Cylance shield in the System Tray (lower-right corner of your screen) should be removed shortly.

If it's not already there, the Windows Defender shield should appear in the System Tray.

Another way to verify if your device has been onboarded is to click on the Windows () logo in the lower-left corner of your screen to open the Start menu. This can also be done using the Windows key on your keyboard. If you see the “Company Portal” and the “Microsoft Intune Management Extension” applications installed, your device has been onboarded successfully.

BitLocker Disk Encryption

One of the security changes associated with the onboarding of MDE is your operating system drive (C:) will be encrypted. If you open File Explorer on your computer (or use the keyboard shortcut:   + E) and click on “This PC”, you will see that your C: drive is encrypted by the presence of a lock.

Encrypting your hard drive will not change how your device operates. It simply encrypts the data on the drive to prevent unauthorized access.

OneDrive

Another change associated with onboarding your device is that OneDrive will be turned on automatically. This means that your Desktop, Documents, and Pictures will be backed up in the cloud to ensure they are not lost due to a computer-related incident or disaster. OneDrive can also be found in the System Tray of your device; it appears as a blue cloud.

Do not be alarmed by the blue exclamation point as that error will not prevent you from backing up your data. This error is generated because of the network drives previously associated with your account.

Screen Lock

To prevent unauthorized access to your computer, your screen will lock after 15 minutes of inactivity. This security measure is to help those who may forget to lock their computer when they walk away for an extended period. If you do not want this policy to be applied to your computer (e.g. if your computer is used to project a dashboard or website), contact the Helpdesk, including the computer name in the ticket, and the exception will be considered.

Windows Updates

The final major change related to onboarding your device involves improving the process of downloading and installing Windows Updates. In the past, computers updated every Saturday morning and restarted to apply the updates on Sunday afternoon. However, the device would never receive updates if the computer was turned off before Saturday morning, resulting in an inconsistent user experience. Instead, Windows updates will be installed on the fourth week of the month to combat this shortcoming, typically on Tuesday or Wednesday.

After updates have been installed, a notification will appear in the bottom-right corner of your screen prompting you to pick a time to restart your computer, restart during nighttime, or restart now. It is important to interact with this notification as your device could restart overnight if you do not specify a date.

If the notification does not appear after installing updates, you will notice the Windows Update logo with an orange dot in your System Tray. If you click on this icon, it will take you to the Windows Update page where you can specify when you prefer to restart your computer.

NOTE: Some users might be asked to restart their devices multiple times after onboarding due to missing updates or updates that were not received over time. Please follow these update requests to ensure your device remains compliant.

Questions?

If you have any questions about these changes to your device, click the Windows Defender shield in the System Tray. The “Windows Security” page will open, in the bottom-right corner there will be a tab labeled “DeSales University support”. Use one of the contact methods to contact the Helpdesk or the TeamDynamix Knowledge Base for Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).