Deep Freeze Enterprise 7.7 is now available!

After listening to our customers, we have made some significant enhancements to how configurations are handled from the Enterprise Console.  We have also seamlessly incorporated our Faronics Anti-Virus solution into the Enterprise Console – making it easier to manage your desktop security from a single interface.

So what exactly have we done?! Here is a brief summary of all the enhancements you can expect in the latest version of Deep Freeze Enterprise:

Configuration Enhancements

Since the advent of the Enterprise version of Deep Freeze in 2003, our customers have been accustomed to using a separate application called the Configuration Administrator to configure Deep Freeze and create workstation installers to deploy it on workstations across the network. While we still have the Configuration Administrator available, we now have a new node in the console panel called “Available Configurations” which allows you to  manage all your configurations. Simply create a new configuration, give it a name, and save it! Once you apply the configuration to selected workstations, that configuration node will display the workstations where the configuration was applied.

We enhanced this functionality further by automatically applying any configuration changes to the affected workstations adopting a policy-type approach. Once the workstation comes online, the new configuration will be applied and subsequently update the new “Last Configuration Update” column. We also added a new “Configuration” column that displays the old RDX file names and now the new configuration name. You no longer have to rely on the Installation File column to guess what configuration might be installed on the workstation.

Detect Touchscreen Activity

In the past few months, we noticed a significant surge in the number of customers using Deep Freeze on Windows 8 Pro tablets. Customers are using Deep Freeze to protect devices in hotel rooms, libraries, retail outlets, education devices etc. However, we never detected touch activity to ensure users were not accidentally interrupted during their session.

In this version, we’ve made enhancements to detect touchscreen activity so Deep Freeze does not accidentally turn off or restart the device if the Idle Time option is enabled. If the keyboard and mouse is configured to be locked, we will now ensure that gesture controls and touch keyboards are locked during maintenance periods.

Remotely Schedule Windows Updates

While Deep Freeze Enterprise 7.5 made significant enhancement to the built-in ability to perform Windows updates when Frozen, we took it a step further to schedule the execution of these updates from the console using the Scheduled Task Wizard.

Deep Freeze already provides the capability to “embed” a scheduled Windows Update workstation task on the client side. However, this new feature allows you schedule this event to be executed from the console and will honor any Windows Update configurations you have already specified in the client configuration. Of course this remote feature will only work if the workstation is online and reporting to the console at the pre-defined time.

Manage Faronics Anti-Virus

You can now manage our cutting edge antivirus from within the Enterprise Console! We had much success when we debuted Faronics Anti-Virus three years ago but customers have since asked why they had to use a separate console to manage a complementary Faronics solution. We listened and believe it only makes sense to provide a single interface to manage both Deep Freeze and Anti-Virus from our popular Enterprise Console.

Faronics Anti-Virus continues to work seamlessly with Deep Freeze, not requiring a Thawed session in order to make configuration changes or update virus definitions. It also provides the same light-weight solution that includes firewall, web filtering, and email protection. It is also Checkmark certified!

Unlike previous versions of Faronics Anti-Virus, there is no need to add plugins into the console. Simply click a button to enable antivirus functionality. When the functionality is enabled, the Enterprise Console will download the latest client installer for deployment purposes. Installing Faronics Anti-Virus on Deep Freeze workstations is easy – simply select the workstations and install. You can also install the antivirus on workstations that have the Deep Freeze seed (does not require a license) installed. We provide very competitive pricing if you would like to consider Faronics Anti-Virus for your environment – contact us today.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our Deep Freeze Beta Community for their impeccable feedback and participation in our private forum. To learn more about what’s new in v7.7, watch this overview video. Leave us a question or comment below!