Installing Sophos Anti-Virus for Windows XP/Vista/7

Introduction

This document gives instructions for installing our Sophos Anti-virus software onto a PC running Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7, which is free to all members of the University. The University has a site licence for Sophos which covers use on both University-owned and personal computers belonging to staff and students. The software must be removed when you leave the University or when the site licence expires in December 2015. Failure to do so will result in your breaking the licence agreement and Sophos PLC may take legal action against you.

Sophos Anti-Virus also detects Potentially Unwanted Applications. You may learn more about this on our Potentially Unwanted Application page.

These instructions are for University-owned PCs. For privately-owned PCs, please see Installing Sophos Anti-Virus on Privately owned PC's.

Pre-requisites

Before you install Sophos Anti-Virus, there are some factors which you need to be aware of:

1. Microsoft Windows XP PCs should have Service Pack 3 or later installed in order to run Sophos Anti-Virus (and indeed to receive further Windows Updates). You can obtain the latest Windows XP Service Pack via the Microsoft Windows Update site.

2. Microsoft Windows Vista PCs should have Service Pack 1 or later installed in order to run Sophos Anti-Virus (and indeed to receive further Windows Updates). You can obtain the latest Windows Vista Service Pack via the Microsoft Windows Update site.

3. Ensure that all Microsoft Windows critical updates have been installed beforehand; this should be done from the Microsoft Update website or from the campus Microsoft update server (your local IT supporter will have arranged this for you). We recommend that you set your computer to automatically install Microsoft updates. Details on this are available from the Updating Microsoft Windows with critical updates web pages.

4. All PCs must have their existing anti-virus software removed prior to installing Sophos Anti-Virus. This can be done through your Windows control panel: click on Start, select Control Panel and then Add/Remove Programs (XP) or Programs and Features (Vista/7). You should reboot your PC after doing this.

5. Sophos Anti-Virus must be installed as a user with Administrator permissions. You can check this from all operating systems other than Windows XP Home in the User Accounts control panel (click on Start, select Control Panel and then User Accounts).

Further pre-requisites for Windows Vista

1. Windows Vista/7 have Windows Defender pre-installed. During the Sophos installation and update process you will be prompted by Windows Defender to allow the changes which Sophos is making. This may occur many times during the installation so please be ready for this.

2. As well as being prompted by Windows Defender, with Windows Vista/7 you may also be prompted by "User Account Control" for permission to install Sophos. You should permit Sophos to install.

Installing Sophos Anti-Virus

University-owned PCs (including University-owned laptops)

Note: If you are in a department with its own IT support staff please check with them before installing Sophos on a University PC, as it is up to them when it is installed. They may have already planned an installation for you.

1. Check that you have done everything listed in the Pre-requisites section above. The installation may fail if you have not done so.
2. Download the Sophos installation package by clicking on one of the links below (depending on whether you are on the RDG-HOME domain or not) and save the file to your hard drive before installing it. If you intend to be on the RDG-HOME domain please join the domain before installing Sophos.
3. Is your PC on the campus RDG-HOME domain? If so, ensure that you install the domain PC version of Sophos in the table below; otherwise install the non-domain version. If you're not sure, ask your local IT supporter orr contact ITS-Help first.

4. Note again: If you are in a department with its own IT support staff please check with them before installing Sophos on a University PC, as it is up to them when it is installed. They may have already planned an installation for you.

PC is on the RDG-HOME domain now:	PC is not on the RDG-HOME domain now:
Install Sophos for University domain PCs	Install Sophos on University non-domain PCs

1. Once you've downloaded the appropriate Sophos Anti-Virus package to your PC hard drive, double-click on it to start the installation. The correct settings are built into the packages and so the installation should proceed without you needing to change anything.

2. Once installed, a Sophos shield icon should appear in your System Tray area on your screen (normally in the bottom right). This will begin to pulse as it runs self-checks and updates itself with the latest version of Sophos Anti-Virus. Finally, it will turn blue and stop pulsing. Hovering over the shield with your mouse pointer will reveal a tool tip which will tell you when you last updated (by default the software will update every four hours). If the shield appears but remains grey you should check the troubleshooting page.
   Troubleshooting Sophos Anti Virus

3. We recommend that you do a full virus scan of your hard disk once Sophos has been installed. This gives Sophos a working baseline to start from and allows" Potentially Unwanted Application" detection to work correctly.

4. To scan your computer, right-click on My Computer (XP) or Computer (Vista/7) and click on Scan with Sophos Anti-Virus. Depending on the amount of data you have, this could take over an hour.