“Local and Remote”, “Remote only”, or “Local only”. Which one should I choose?

In your workspace settings you may have noticed three options: “Local and Remote”, “Remote only”, or “Local only”.

The mode you choose one of these options can have a big impact on how the protection software on your devices functions, as well as how your software is managed through the Management Console.

Local and remote:

This is the default option. With this management mode you can modify your security settings both locally from your local software and through the Management Console in my.emsisoft.com . If you change a setting on the local device, you’ll also see it change in the Management Console after a couple of seconds, and vice versa.

Remote only:

By choosing this option you will be able to manage your protection only from your management console. This is the preferred option when you do not want the local users to intervene on the protection.
The user interface on your protected devices is reduced to the bare minimum, and some of the Workspace menu items and settings have been hidden due to the Remote Only mode. Users can see the current protection status on their devices, although all of the protection settings are managed exclusively in the Emsisoft Management Console.

Local only:

Your devices will no longer be manageable through the workspace. The devices will still connect to the Emsisoft servers to receive detection updates and licenses, but no settings or log data are transferred to the Management Console. Security settings can only be changed on the local device, which means you can’t define any policies, handle malware infections or view incidents and reports in the Console.

Please be cautious with this setting – once you’ve enabled ‘Local only’ mode, all of your stored workspace data is deleted for privacy reasons. And once it’s deleted, it can’t be restored.

To summarize, home users and small-business users should stick to the default ‘Local and remote’ management mode. If you have a bigger organization with dedicated cybersecurity admins, ‘Remote only’ mode may be your best option.