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Computer restarts

After you first install Sophos protection software on a new computer we recommend you restart the computer as soon as possible.

  • If you've removed competitor software, you usually need to restart the computer to complete the removal. If you restart the computer promptly it reduces the risk of software conflicts.
  • Some protection options, such as exploit mitigations, are loaded as processes start. You need to restart a computer to ensure all processes, including system processes, have loaded the protection.

When you update Sophos protection software on a computer, you may need to restart the computer. You typically don't need to do this immediately. Your computers remain protected. You can usually wait until the next time you restart the computer manually restart or restart it as part of an operating system update.

Operating system updates

We recommend that you install any operating system security patches on your computers promptly.

If you do this then you shouldn't get alerts for pending restarts for Sophos protection software updates. The frequency of operating system updates should mean that you're restarting your computers frequently enough to cover Sophos software updates.

We don't plan to add options to remotely trigger restarts or notify your users to restart. Your users should already be restarting their computers due to operating system updates.

Queued updates

Note

If you don't restart a computer after an update for an extended period, typically months, you can have a subsequent update queued pending a restart from the first update. The second update will run after the first restart takes place, and it may in turn require a second restart to complete it.

If you restart your computers infrequently you may want to plan for a second restart cycle, allowing time for the updates to take place between the restarts. For computers with reasonable performance, you may want to plan for an interval of 20 minutes after the first restart to allow any updates to complete.