Once you leave the University of Idaho, you will need to do a full uninstallation of Sophos antivirus to prepare your computer for a new antivirus program to be installed without error. This tutorial will guide you through the process of completely removing Sophos antivirus from your Windows machine.
Remember that ITS has a list of other handy step-by-step tutorials that can be found on our tutorials page.
- To uninstall the Sophos Antivirus suite, navigate to, depending on your version of Windows, to the uninstall or change a program/programs and features/installed programs in your Control Panel, which can be accessed from the start menu. You will want to make sure your Sophos antivirus is not updating when you attempt to uninstall. If the shield in the System Tray is not solid, the software suite is updating. You must wait until it finishes and returns to solid:
- The first component to remove is “Sophos AutoUpdate”.; Again, double check to make sure the software is not updating:
- If the “Remote Managment System” is present, uninstall this feature next; otherwise, proceed to step 4:
- If the “Sophos Client Firewall” is installed, uninstall it next; otherwise, proceed to step 5:
Note: After uninstalling the Sophos Firewall Client, you will be prompted to reboot your system. Select “No”.
- If the Sophos Patch Agent is installed, uninstall it next; otherwise proceed to step 6:
- The last component to uninstall is the “Sophos Anti-Virus” component:
- Once the Sophos Anti-Virus suite has been removed from your system, save all of your work, close any applications you have open, and reboot your computer. This will allow the system to “reset” and completely wipe any trace of Sophos.
Your system is now ready to instal a new antivirus program such as AVG, Panda, Norton or McCaffee. If you encounter any problems during this installation, or any issues with your Sophos installation, please check the Sophos frequently asked question or contact the ITS Help Desk via email at helpdesk@uidaho.edu, by phone at 885-HELP or in person at our main office in the Idaho commons building, TLC room 128.
