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Antivirus for desktops and laptops

Sophos Home, is the University's supported antivirus product for Windows and Mac OS operating systems. 

The software is site-licensed at Penn and available free of charge to members of the Penn community.

Sophos Home offers a variety of protective services including:

  • Real-time antivirus
  • Advanced web protection
  • AI threat detection
  • Ransomware protection
  • Banking protection
  • Privacy + identity protection
  • Malware scan and clean
  • Remote management console
  • Scheduled scans
  • Automatic updates
  • And allows you to protect up to 10 computers!

Click here to access it from Penn's Software Licensing Portal: Sophos Home

Windows

Uninstall Existing Antivirus Software

If you already have antivirus software installed on your computer, such as McAfee VirusScan for Windows, you should remove it before installing Sophos Home antivirus products. 

To remove existing antivirus software:

  1. Click the Start button, type "Uninstall" and select "Uninstall a program" from the list that appears
  2. From the list of programs, select your current antivirus program
  3. If one or all of the following messages display -- it may take 10 to 15 seconds for each message to appear -- respond as follows, otherwise, skip to step 4:
    1. If the Remove Shared File window displays and asks if you want to remove a shared file, click the No to All button, and then click No when the Remove Programs from your Computer window is displayed.
    2. If the Remove Program Directory window displays and identifies the remaining files in the antivirus software directory that you are removing and then asks if you would like to delete them, click the Yes button. For example, the path of the directory may look like the following: C:\Program Files\name of antivirus vendor\name of antivirus directory.
    3. If the following message displays, click the Yes button: "There are files in Quarantine. Would you like to permanently delete the quarantined files?"
    4. If the following message displays, click the Yes button: "A read-only file, C:\program files\name of antivirus vendor you are removing\name of antivirus directory you are removing\setup.exe, was found while attempting to copy files to the destination location. To overwrite this file, click the Yes button, otherwise click the No button."
  4. When prompted to restart your computer, click Yes. 
  5. Close the Control Panel window, then close the Uninstall Program window or the Add or Remove Programs Properties window.

Download Supported Antivirus Software

Click here to access it from Penn's Software Licensing Portal: Sophos Home

 

Uninstall Existing Antivirus Software

If you already have antivirus software installed on your computer such as SEP for Macintosh, you should remove it before installing Sophos Home antivirus products. 

The following instructions are for removing old antivirus software. If you are uninstalling another vendor's software, consult their documentation for help.

You will need your Administrator password to remove the software.

  1. On the Mac client computer, open the Symantec Endpoint Protection client, and then click Symantec Endpoint Protection > Uninstall Symantec Endpoint Protection.  

  1. Click Uninstall again to begin the uninstallation.  

  1. To install a helper tool that is needed for uninstalling the Symantec Endpoint Protection client, enter your Mac's administrative username and password, and then click Install Helper. 

  1. If Symantec Endpoint Protection is trying to modify a System Extension dialog box, enter your Mac's administrative username and password, and then click OK. 

You may also be prompted to type a password to uninstall the client. This password may be a different password than your Mac's administrative password. 

After the uninstallation completes, you can click Restart Now.   

Download Supported Antivirus Software

After accepting the licensing agreement, the file will automatically unzip and place an installer in your default download location (probably your Downloads folder located in the Apple Dock). Double-click the installer icon and follow the on-screen instructions accepting the defaults. After you finish, you can delete the installer by dragging it to the Trash.

Note: Follow Sophos Home's on-screen instructions to finish installing the software. The installation will take several minutes.

Sophos Home

 

The University of Pennsylvania owns the Sophos Home license.

Active University Faculty, Staff, and Students with a pennkey@upenn.edu email address can access this software.