Sophos Antivirus
Sophos Antivirus is available free-of-charge to all members of the University, and can be installed on both work computers as well as personally-owned computers. You can download a copy of Sophos for Macs, PCs, or Linux systems here:
https://www.cvs.rochester.edu/cvspriv/downloads/
Please note that this site is only accessible if you're on-campus or connected to the UR campus via a VPN connection. Also please note that our versions of Sophos are different than those offered by University IT.
Installation Instructions for Macs
1) Download the installer and double-click on it to unzip the file. It should place a copy of the installer on your desktop.
2) Double-click the "Sophos Installer" on your desktop to begin the installation process.
3) The installation process is very straightforward...click to accept the license agreement, enter your OSX username/password when prompted, and Sophos will install itself.
4) Once installation is complete, a black-outlined shield with an "S" in it should appear in the upper right corner. Click on it and select "Open Preferences..." from the menu.
5) The preference window for Sophos will appear. Click on the padlock icon in the bottom left corner and enter your OSX username/password to unlock the preference pane.
6) Click on the "AutoUpdate" tab at the top of the window, and enter the Sophos username/password provided to you to enable Sophos' AutoUpdate feature (note that there's no "Save" button to click on, but the info will be saved). Note: the primary protection mechanisms used by Sophos (On-Access scanning, Live Protection, and Web Protection) are also accessible via this preference pane. All should be enabled by default. Installation is now complete.
7) It is recommended that you now run Sophos itself and have it do a scan of your computer by clicking on the Sophos shield and selecting "Scan This Mac".
If your Sophos shield icon isn't black, or has an "X" in it, skip down to the troubleshooting section.
Installation Instructions for Windows
1) Download the installation program and double-click on it to begin the process. The installer will first decompress itself to a new folder on your C:\ drive, then the actual installation will start.
2) The installation process is pretty straightforward. After accepting the licensing terms, Sophos will show you the directory where it will install itself. It will then ask for a Sophos username & password for the automatic updating feature. Enter the username/password provided to you by me (Chris), and please note that both are CASE-SENSITIVE. Click 'Next'.
3) The next window will ask about removing other third-party security software. All Sophos to do this. After clicking past one more window, the program will install.
4) Once installation is complete, the Sophos shield should appear in the bottom right corner of your desktop. Right-click on it and select "Update Now". A new window will appear on your desktop, and after a few seconds of spinning its wheels, Sophos should start automatically downloading updates. If it does, then you're all set.
5) It is recommended that you now run Sophos itself and have it do a scan of your computer. Right-click on the Sophos shield and select "Open Sophos Endpoint Security and Control". In the resulting window, click on the "Scan my computer" option.
If your Sophos shield icon isn't black, or has an "X" in it, skip down to the troubleshooting section.
Troubleshooting
Problem: The Sophos shield has a black "X" in it (Mac) or a red dot with an "X" in it (Windows)
Answer: Sophos' AutoUpdate feature is not working or it tried to auto-update and could not. Verify you're connected to the Internet, then left-click Mac) or right-click (PC) on the Sophos shield and tell the program to try and update itself. If it still does not work, make sure the Sophos username/password were entered correctly into the program's preferences (note that the username/password are CASE-SENSITIVE).
Problem: The Sophos shield is grey, not black or blue
Answer: This means that Sophos' on-access scanner is disabled. Please go into Sophos' preferences and re-enable it. If it will not re-enable, you may need to reinstall Sophos to fix it.
Problem: OSX won't allow me to run the installer.
Answer: Go into the "Security & Privacy" preference pane in OSX, and under the "General" tab, tell OSX to allow applications downloaded from anywhere.
Problem: Sophos seems messed up, and just trying to install it over again doesn't work.
Answer: Uninstall what's there first, then try installing a new copy. For Macs, you can find the official Sophos uninstaller in the "/Library/Sophos Anti-Virus/Remove Sophos Anti-Virus" folder. For PCs, launch the "Programs & Features" control panel and locate the two Sophos applications in the list of installed programs. Right click on "Sophos Autoupdate" and select Uninstall. Once done, right click on "Sophos Antivirus" itself and select Uninstall. You will need to reboot your computer after uninstalling Sophos itself.
Problem: On my Windows computers, I can't make any changes to the program's configuration or clean up anything in quarantine.
Answer: You need to give yourself explicit admin rights for Sophos. Go into Control Panels and click on "Administrative Tools -> Computer Management", then select "Local Users and Groups" from the column on the left. Click on "Users", then select your user account. In the resulting window, Click the "Member of" tab. Then click the "Add" button. In the "Enter the object names..." field, enter "SophosAdministrator". Click the "Check Names" button...the field should change to include your computer name and underline everything. Click OK to close the window, then "Apply" and "OK" in the previous window. Now if you quit and re-run Sophos, you have the rights to make changes to the program and clean up files that are in quarantine.