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Changes to anti-virus protection for personal/home use

Changes to anti-virus protection for personal/home use

Do you use Sophos Anti-Virus software, as provided by the University, on your personal/home laptop, PC or Mac?

If you do, it is important that you switch to alternative anti-virus software before 12 June 2012 or your computer will be at risk from malware and other security threats.

Why? What’s happening?

The University’s site licence for Sophos expires on 12 June 2012 and will not be renewed.

We will be replacing Sophos on all University-owned PCs and Windows laptops with Microsoft System Center Endpoint Protection (SCEP) and are proposing ClamXav as an alternative anti-virus solution for campus Macs. As our current Microsoft campus agreement covers SCEP, and ClamXav is free, there will be a direct cost benefit to the University without reducing protection from viruses and malware.

Why does this affect my personal/home computer?

Unlike Sophos, the SCEP licence does not cover personal/home Windows laptops, PCs or Macs belonging to staff and students. This means that if you are using the University’s licensed version of Sophos on your personal/home laptop, PC or Mac, you will need to install an alternative before 12 June.

If you do not, you will be running unlicensed software and your computer will be at risk as you will no longer be receiving updates from Sophos.

What do I need to do?

If you are using the University’s licensed version of Sophos on your own personal/home laptop, PC or Mac, please ensure you switch to an alternative anti-virus package of your choosing before 12 June 2012. We’ve listed some alternatives below.

Remember!

You must remove Sophos from your personal/home laptop, PC or Mac before installing any new anti-virus software! For guidance, see

Alternatives to Sophos

You may wish to consider one of the following FREE packages:

Alternatively, you may prefer to buy anti-virus software such as

Note: Kaspersky is not compatible with the Write-N-Cite utility within RefWorks, the University's licensed bibliographic management software.

We do not endorse any one package over another and can provide no support or warranty for home installations of any software package listed above.

What about my work computer?

For most users, there’s nothing you need to do. 

We will remove Sophos and install and configure FEP on all DIT built, networked PCs, including Windows laptops, on your behalf. Please do not uninstall Sophos yourself.

Further information about installing ClamXav on campus Macs will follow.

Please look out for email updates over the next few months.