Search Menu
IT Services

Sophos installation on laptops and home PCs

Sophos installation on laptops and home PCs

You are encouraged to use Sophos on your personal laptop and/or home PC

All staff and registered students can use the University's chosen Anti-Virus software - Sophos - on their laptops and home PCs. However, we recently discovered that a number of user's laptops and home PCs that run Windows 2000/2003 XP and Vista are inadvertently running the campus version of Sophos. This can lead to problems with updating the software.

If you use Windows 2000, 2003, XP or Vista, please check that you are using the correct version of Sophos.

Check your version of Sophos

  1. Click on Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs. You will be presented with a list of the programs that are installed on your laptop/PC.
  2. Scroll down to where Sophos is listed (the list should be in alphabetical order):
    • If you have just two programs - Sophos Anti-Virus and Sophos AutoUpdate - you have the correct version installed. 
    • If you have an additional program called Sophos Remote Management System AND your PC/laptop is used primarily ON campus, you need do nothing further.
    • If you have the additional program and your PC/laptop is used primarily OFF campus, you will need to uninstall and reinstall Sophos following the instructions below.
    • Before uninstalling, check that you can access the links given below. If you can't, you will need to configure your browser to use the proxy - instructions at http://www.abdn.ac.uk/dit/proxy.

To uninstall/reinstall Sophos:

  1. From the Add/Remove Programs dialog, highlight the Sophos programs in the following order and click Remove:
    • Sophos AutoUpdate
    • Sophos Remote Management System
    • Sophos Antivirus
  2. Once all Sophos components are removed, reinstall Sophos: www.abdn.ac.uk/dit/antivirus/HwinXPInst.shtml
  3. Once downloaded and installed, you will need to configure Sophos, see: www.abdn.ac.uk/dit/antivirus/HwinXPInst.shtml#configure

If you have any queries, please contact the Service Desk :