Hello Museum Colleagues,

As part of UFIT’s ongoing efforts to update UF’s cybersecurity infrastructure they have instructed us to switch from Trend Micro’s Anti-Virus to Microsoft’s Defender for Endpoint before the end of the spring semester. OMT has tested the software, its installation process, and we are ready to deploy Defender for Endpoint to museum computers.

On computers running Windows no actions need to be taken, the process is silent and takes place in the background while your computer is running and connected to the internet.

On MacOS there is a required reboot, so you will be prompted asking if it is okay to uninstall Non-DfE Anti-Viruses. This process takes about 15 minutes. You can defer this for 24 hours up to 5 times.

If you defer 5 times, then the process will become mandatory at the next prompt. At the next prompt you will have 10 minutes to save your work before the process begins and the computer reboots.

Once the process begins, it is largely silent, with a notification about a minute before the computer reboots.

On both Mac OS and Windows computers you will find the Defender for Endpoint icon of a shield with a check-mark in either the Menu bar on Mac OS or the Notification Area on Windows when the process is successful.