Protection starts with the first installation

To reboot or not to reboot?

“Turn it off and on again.” This global IT support advice is known to everyone, from Peppa Pig (Mummy Pig at Work) to The IT Crowd (every episode). But why? Why does rebooting a complex computer system solve so many problems? And why am I referring to British TV comedy in a serious report about computer security? We will answer one of those questions here.

Complex software has complex needs

Installing computer software can be as simple as copying a program file from an external source. However, complex software needs more attention. It needs to integrate more fully with the operating system and potentially other programs already installed. Some programs share code for efficiency’s sake, for example.

When advanced applications need to embed into the operating system it’s common to require the administrator to reboot the system after installation. This allows different components of the new program to play nicely with the rest of the system. However, there are good reasons why you may not wish to reboot a system. It might be busy doing something useful, but you still need the new application to operate. Or you might be investigating a live security incident.

SentinelOne Singularity for Endpoint

SentinelOne Singularity for Endpoint claims to provide great protection, even before you reboot the system. We tested that claim in this report. Let’s find out if you really need to turn it off and on again, to stay safe.

This report shows SentinelOne Singularity’s performance in this test with and without a reboot after installation. The results are directly comparable with the public SE Labs Enterprise Endpoint Security (Q2 2023) report, available here.