Diligex performs scheduled proactive maintenance activities on all Managed IT PC’s, Mac’s and servers. Maintenance and updates are critical to ensuring that machines are kept secure and running properly.
Most maintenance is performed outside of business hours (with some exceptions). In order for Diligex to perform maintenance on a machine, we must be able to reach the machine. Therefore, machines should be left powered on at all times. For desktop users this isn’t a problem. For laptop users, we ask that you try and have your machine online and plugged into A/C power during the maintenance window at least once a week.
It is important to note that many of the updates that are performed on machine do require a reboot. For this reason, we recommend that you save your work, close programs and logoff at the end of your work day. If not, you put yourself at risk of losing data.
(The following details serve as the “default template” for all Managed IT clients. The maintenance activities and schedules are often modified based on the individual client’s needs. If you have any questions or concerns about your server or desktop maintenance plan, please contact a Diligex technician.)
Contents:
Windows Maintenance
Microsoft Updates – Everyday 3AM – 6AM
We deploy patches as Microsoft makes them available. The following Windows update types are automatically updated: Critical, Security, Definition updates and MS Office patches.
We do not automatically update: Drivers, Language Packs
3rd Party updates: Everyday 2AM – 3AM
We update 110+ 3rd party applications automatically. For a full list please see: https://ninite.com/applist/pro.html
Since certain customers have a requirement to run specific versions of software, update rules are set on a client by client basis. By default, we update the following if detected on a PC:
- .NET – All major versions updated to their most recently subversion (ex: .NET 4.5.51208 -> 4.5.51209)
- 7-zip
- Chrome
- Dropbox
- Evernote
- Firefox
- Google Drive
- Google File Stream
- Google Backup and Sync
- Google Earth
- Quicktime
- Adobe Acrobat
- Adobe Reader
- iTunes
- Notepad++
- Opera
- Safari
- Shockwave
- Silverlight
- Spotify
- VLC Player
- Webex
- Winamp
- WinRAR
- Zoom
Other applications are updated depending on specific customer requirements.
Server updates: Thursday and Saturday 3AM – 6AM
Most servers receive their updates early Thursday morning. For customers with virtualized servers, your virtual servers update on Thursday and your hypervisors update on Saturday.
File Cleanup: Everyday 12:00PM
MAC Maintenance
macOS updates: Everyday 11PM (please see Q#1 below in the FAQ)
FAQ:
Q: What happens if my machine is shutdown, powered off or asleep during a maintenance or update window?
A: Your machine will not be updated and we will attempt to perform maintenance again during the next window. If you miss two successive windows, we will perform maintenance outside of the window during the business day.
Q: I keep getting a ‘Diligex needs to restart your computer…’ message on my screen. Why does it keep popping up?
A: Certain OS and 3rd party updates require a reboot to complete. Machines should reboot on their own during the maintenance window, but sometimes cannot due to various factors. The most likely causes are:
1. you we’re logged into your computer during a maintenance window. A computer cannot perform it’s post updates reboot if a user account is logged in and it will therefore prompt you to reboot.
2. your machine was not online during two consecutive maintenance cycles. This causes maintenance to be run during the day when your machine is next online. You may click No to the prompt requesting a reboot and the system won’t bother you for another 2 hours.
We recommend that users logoff of their PC at the end of the workday, but keep the PC powered on. This allows updates to be applied and the computer to be rebooted automatically.
Q: Sometimes I come into work, login to my machine and all the work I left open the night before is gone! Why?
A: Your machine was likely updated the previous night and required a reboot to complete the process. We recommend that you save all work, close programs and logoff your machine before leaving for the day.