Sophos

The_Minister

I need some questions about Sophos answered (it's the anti-virus that the tech services offer for free)
1)Will they install it on a laptop that you purchesed outside of their special offers?
2) Is it any good?
3)Are there any limitations on the type of laptop it can go on?

ozt9vdujny3srf

1) Yes

2) Yes - I like it because it doesnt over-use system resources, and generally has excellent virus definitions. You won't get better for free and I much prefer it to anything from Norton/McAfee which take over your computer when you install them. (Sophos is actually quite an expensive piece of software to buy aswell).

3) No

You can download and install it yourself off UCD Connect (from anywhere, not just UCD).

Login to Connect and click on IT Services. Its in the third box on the left hand column.

The autp update every hour gets a bit annoying though. I have it set to every ten hours.

Umaro

How did you set it up like that? (sorry for going off-topic)

themole

there ain't really much to it.

i use the one i got from here.

I don't know if its accessible from outside ucd.

You should be able to install it from this link.

Its a standard install. you just have to install it, then select update. The installer will then setup the av sw.

Stepherunie

It is accessible from outside UCD alright - I downloaded it at home over christmas last year.

Red Alert

it's accessible from outside ucd if log in though ucd connect.

you can also find a password (which you must be within ucd to see) enabling you to download everything that ucd is licensed for from Sophos. (Most of it is server stuff so no use anyway)

1. Anybody from UCD can install it on any computer they own. (It's piles better than the home edition of Norton, much less of a performance hit)

2. I second truckle on it. You probably won't notice it at all in use, unlike Norton with its intrusive GUI.

3. We're licensed for laptops running everything. For windows it's the only game in town. Don't know about OSX. I prefer ClamAV on linux but it doesn't do on-access scanning.

Jonny Arson

That's sweet, just downloaded it there!

BKtje

downloaded it but wont install O_o

Bit strange. Laptop was only jsut formatted too. Will figure it out later i guess.

rain on

B-K-DzR wrote:

downloaded it but wont install O_o

Bit strange. Laptop was only jsut formatted too. Will figure it out later i guess.

let us know if you do - it downloaded fine, and actually installed fine too now that i think of it, but getting the updates led to much bumbling around, and firefox crashed on me.

ozt9vdujny3srf

It needs an active net connection to install.

themole

Orlando Short Rye wrote:

It needs an active net connection to install.

Well, it is a net installer

It downloads the latest version of Sophos and definitions from the ucd server

irlrobins

I think you can only get updates if you're on the UCD network. i.e. you can't update on your home internet connection. It def used to be like that, not 100% sure it still is like that.

Stepherunie

Nope, updates for me at home.... irl are you wrong about something?????

irlrobins

No, as I stated I wasn't 100% sure.

It used to be that you could only down load and update it if you were on UCD network. Looks like they've changed that. Personally I wouldn't have done so.

Stepherunie

Yep just updated it there, so nope, so defo works just fine

Red Alert

it's a small enough present for you to take away when you leave. do they remind former ucd-ers to do the decent thing and remove it when they leave?

hullaballoo

irlrobins wrote:

No, as I stated I wasn't 100% sure.

It used to be that you could only down load and update it if you were on UCD network. Looks like they've changed that. Personally I wouldn't have done so.

That wouldn't make too much sense though. I use my laptop pretty much all the time over the summer so if the virus definitions are old (I'm not in UCD over the summer), then I could bring a virus into the UCD network in September.

Have you been drinking Robin?

irlrobins

Yea I know what you mean. But it would prevent the problem of people passing on the installer to friends and letting them have AV for free. They used to provide a login to sophos site to allow you to manually download updates. they could provide that again for people off campus during the summer. In fact that's how the updates were down before they set up remote update.

hullaballoo

Surely the update site can recognise an authorised copy of the software though?

Anyway, the point is that Sophos is a good AV and it's very accessible. So OP, you're laptop will be safe enough in big bad UCD.

Red Alert

update site is savman1/2 in ucd, and no longer have a 'closed' network so they can't.

fish-head

I bought Norton there last month for my MacBook so I shan't be using that..

hullaballoo

You can't get on to the UCD Network without Sophos.

irlrobins

^ Not true

Red Alert

^^ Irlrobins right as usual! One would need a very complex access check to specifically disallow machines not equipped with anti-virus.

themole

Indeed.

You don't even have to register for the wirless network.

Now if i can just get off my ass, build a high gain wifi antenna, and cut down the trees behind my house....

irlrobins

You'd have high speed HTML access and nothing else

Sarn

After seeing sophos in use in UCD for the past few years, I have to say I find it lacking. All the machines in work with Sophos have had viruses on them at some point (this could be due to lack of user care), obviously no antivirus software is all encompassing and the same can happen with Norton or McAffee.

Personally I use Norton (which is definitely a system hog) as I find it functionally superior. Never had a virus on my machine. Of course this could be due to caution on my part. Ultimately some (regularly updated) antivirus software is better than none and if you can get it for free you might as well use it.

hullaballoo

irlrobins wrote:

^ Not true

If you try and get onto the UCD network with a macbook, the first thing they tell you is that they don't support macbooks. Then, when you've argued with them for a few weeks about it, they ask you if your laptop is safe enough (ie what AV you have). If you don't say, "Sophos", they say, "Well, you'll have to get Sophos."

Now, it could be just that I've only ever dealt with ILTG in Quinn, but this is my understanding of the situation.

Red Alert

does dealings with the ILTG only arise when you're a comm student?

irlrobins

Yea pretty much. As crap as Comp Services are, ITLG are worse from what I've experienced.

MAC's work and are supported on the UCD network. It's just that the ITLG have a fear of anything unknown to them. Which, unless it's not a Dell preconfigured for them, covers just about everything.

ucdperson

The ILTG in Quinn are not computer services, they are supposed to support educational applications in Quinn. While Macs, Sun workstations, AIX minicomputers, PDAs and a variety of other gadgets can be connected to the UCD network and these are interesting examples of general computing, they are not used in educational applications in Quinn and so are not the concern of ILTG.