Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition

[larsi]

My university has a site license for Sophos Anti-Virus that allows me to install it on my personal Mac, too. It works great, but I find it a bit annoying that I have to connect to my university's VPN once or twice a day to be able to update the virus definitions.

Would it be a good idea to remove Sophos Anti-Virus and install the Home Edition instead? I wouldn't need the VPN for updating anymore, but does the Home Edition have drawbacks, too? (for personal use, of course)

[QC]

Hello larsi,

of course I can only guess (and I have not yet tried it due to "lack of Mac"). I assume that it's technically the same as the licensed version but doesn't have the management and reporting features. If your university doesn't provide updates for "outside" clients (btw: it is possible to configure Sophos as update location with the licensed version) the Home Edition is probably the better choice.

While there is no Home Version for Windows using it stand alone doesn't offer all the additional features (like Device Control or Application Control) of the managed version. That is - the features are there but there is no UI to configure them.  

Christian

[grahamperrin]

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larsi wrote:

… I have to connect to my university's VPN …  to update the virus definitions. …

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I would strongly suggest asking server/firewall administrators to relax the firewall for that update service.

IMHO anything that makes antivirus software updates difficult, or annoying, has a bad effect long term. 

(Some users will learn that a crossed out Sophos icon is  a frequent and acceptable norm. Learning to ignore alerts is never good)