Sophos Anti-Virus Software

Sophos has provided antivirus software protection for more than 30 years, and it is geared toward corporations and networks. Sophos' antivirus software is available for download from the Sophos site as a free trial, and the price for the software at the end of the trial ranges between roughly $240 per year for up to three users to as high as $5200 per year for 100 users. You can also choose longer contract lengths for a deeper discount.

New Features

The most recent release of Sophos Anti-Virus includes the addition of firewall protection that was not available in previous versions. In addition to standard antivirus protection, Sophos protects against adware and detects malicious scripts. One notable addition is that Sophos' software is now available to protect Mac computers as well as standard PCs, which allows for additional antivirus protection for companies that use both systems.

One feature of Sophos Anti-Virus is the ability to set up email notifications and desktop pop-ups. This allows system administrators to monitor network computers without having to review pages of logs. If the software detects a virus, Sophos sends an email regarding the threat in accordance with your administrative settings. This allows for an additional level of antivirus protection for both large and small companies. Smaller companies may not have the staff to closely monitor antivirus logs, while larger companies may miss a warning that is buried somewhere in mounds of paperwork. Email alerts give administrators a quick notification that a threat has been found so that they can take action immediately.

Ease of Use

The fact that Sophos Anti-Virus is designed for corporate use shows in the interface. The dashboard could be a bit intimidating for a beginning user, and configuring the settings is somewhat confusing. However, the default settings appear to be sufficient for the average user to receive sufficient antivirus protection.

Sophos antivirus allows for both administrative and user settings, which is a benefit to network users. An administrator can set the software's antivirus protection at a level that works best for the company and give users as much or as little access to the antivirus software as is necessary.

After entering the information required to start the free trial, Sophos will send you an email with a unique username and password along with a link to the download page. The download page has two options to choose from depending on your operating system, so it is important to be sure that you choose the correct one. The installation process takes about 20 minutes from start to finish. Although the installation does not require you to restart your computer, it does require you to log off after installation.

Protection

Sophos Anti-Virus has received an average rating from a variety of software-accreditation programs and appears to provide adequate antivirus protection. The software can be set to run regularly, or you can run it manually. When it runs in the background, Sophos Anti-Virus affects your computer's resources somewhat and might cause other software to run slower.

Overall, Sophos provides good antivirus protection that is geared more toward network or corporate use than individual use. The price is definitely out of the range of the home user, but the software is reasonably priced for a small business that needs network protection. The fact that Sophos provides antivirus protection for Mac operating systems is definitely a benefit since there are few antivirus software applications that protect both Windows and Mac computers.

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