Weekly Reboot Policy

All university issued PCs regularly receive software updates. This includes Microsoft’s major monthly security patch as well as updates for the various installed applications. Many of these updates require a system reboot in order for the changes to take effect.  This reboot is essential to maintaining PC health and thus keeping the university secure.

When updates are not properly installed, a PC :

• Can become vulnerable to cyber-attacks
• Can experience hindered performance
• Can experience application memory issues
• Can miss cyber threat scans
• Can experience improperly applied system policies

Recently, an FDU audit discovered that laptops and desktops deployed throughout our campuses have not been restarted in several weeks, months and even years.  Starting in December, FDU will be implementing a new policy in which a complete shutdown and/or reboot of university issued PCs will be performed weekly.  Once the policy is implemented, users will be prompted to perform a reboot every Wednesday.  After receiving the prompt, users will have five days to reboot their PC before an automatic reboot will occur. Please find the time to reboot before the automatic reboot. This will allow the opportunity to save all work in advance of the restart.

Precautions will be in place to ensure that this policy does not interfere with presentations or video conferencing.  Also, please be reminded that a Bitlocker PIN must be entered whenever a device reboots.  This PIN is issued when a user first receives their device and our Technical Assistance Center, at (973) 443-8822, can provide assistance with retrieving a lost PIN. Thank you for your cooperation, understanding and compliance with this policy.

– Neal Sturm, Vice President & CIO

See also