Common questions and concerns surrounding Sophos Antivirus at the University of Idaho.
What is Sophos antivirus?
Sophos is an antivirus program provided by OIT to help protect your U of I owned device from viruses, trojans, and other malware. Sophos runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. Please note, the university does not provide Sophos for personal devices.
How do I install Sophos?
The installation process depends on the type of device your have:
- Windows managed - installed automatically by OIT, or available in Software Center
- Apple Mac - installed automatically by OIT, or available in Self Service
- Personal device - available directly from Sophos (not managed by U of I), see Does U of I provide antivirus for personal devices?
At any time feel free to request installation assistance from your Local Support team by visiting https://oit.uidaho.edu
Do I need to uninstall my current anti-virus before installing Sophos?
Sophos automatically attempts to remove other antivirus during installation. You do not need to manually uninstall your current antivirus unless you encounter issues.
How do I keep Sophos up to date?
Sophos automatically updates whenever your device has an active Internet connection.
Do I need to run a manual scan of my system?
Sophos scans for viruses as you access files and runs a scheduled computer scan once a week. However, if you wish to perform an immediate scan, double-click the Sophos icon in your system tray, then click "Scan" in the Sophos client window to scan your computer.
If you'd like to scan a specific file, right click the file and select "Scan with Sophos Anti-Virus."
How do I uninstall Sophos?
Important! Antivirus is required on university computers and Sophos is required for computers processing moderate or high risk data. Only uninstall for troubleshooting purposes. If you have a reason to remove Sophos permanently, open a ticket and request an exception.
How do I know if Sophos is installed?
On a Windows computer:
Look at the icons in the system tray. If you see a blue shield with a white "S", Sophos is installed.
On a Mac computer:
Look at the icons in the upper right of the menu bar. If you see a black shield with a white "S", Sophos is installed.
Does U of I provide antivirus for personal devices?
Your U of I account gives you a code for Sophos Home Premium for personal use. Instructions for downloading Sophos Home can be found here.
Do I need Sophos if I already have a different antivirus?
For university computers, yes. OIT managed Sophos antivirus is required for all managed technology under policy.