Campus Technology Services

Sophos Anti-Virus Information

SUNY Oswego has negotiated an agreement with Sophos to license Sophos Anti-Virus products for SUNY Oswego staff, students, and faculty. The license agreement  provides the right to install the software on:

• SUNY Oswego owned or leased computer systems

• Personally owned computers of current SUNY Oswego students, staff and faculty

PLEASE NOTE - There can only be one anti-virus program installed on your computer at a time. The Sophos Installer will remove certain AV packages prior to installation, so if yours is not listed you will need to manually uninstall the software.

If you currently have another anti-virus program installed on your computer, and wish to use Sophos as your anti-virus program, you must completely uninstall the other anti-virus program before attempting to install Sophos.

Sophos Anti-Virus, like its competitors Norton and McAfee, works in two ways: it prevents viruses from executing, and it removes them if it finds that one has already executed. In order to do this, Sophos maintains a database of known viruses and how to remove them, and updates the anti-virus program periodically to ensure that the computer is protected from the newest threats. Sophos constantly watches the computer, and when it notices a virus trying to execute its code, Sophos will stop it from running and quarantine the file (i.e. disallow access to the file so it is unable to harm your computer).

Sophos can also be run by the user if an infection is suspected; it will scan the files and folders on the computer, stop any viruses from running, and remove the associated files to the quarantine. Sophos Anti-Virus protects your computers from the latest viruses from email, CD, floppy disk, network shares, instant messaging, web download etc. Using patented InterCheck technology, Sophos's "on-access" scanner provides constant real-time protection with minimal system overhead.

If you currently have another anti-virus program installed on your computer, and wish to use Sophos as your anti-virus program, you must completely uninstall the other anti-virus program before attempting to install Sophos.

Sophos is available for any student however it is not required. You can either keep McAfee or switch to Sophos at any time. You may wish to install Sophos if your current AV is expired or unsupported by our residence hall security system.

Please be aware that CTS will no longer offer support for McAfee. If a problem arises with a current installation of McAfee, it will be CTS policy to migrate you to Sophos. CTS will no longer have McAfee available for download since our license for the product will not be renewed.

As far as home usage is concerned, you can continue to use of McAfee or your choice of Antivirus on your home computer. Sophos is available if and when you choose to switch. Sophos should run faster on your machine as well as better protect you from malware, spyware, and viruses. There is no timeline to make this switch, but you should consider migrating to Sophos within a reasonable time frame due to the fact that McAfee will come out with newer versions of their software, and this particular version could become obsolete and the technology outdated.

To download the Sophos installer, please vist the CTS Software Downloads Page.