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Sophos is an antivirus program provided by UT Southwestern to all students, postdocs, staff and faculty free of charge through a site license. Users will have access to Sophos for the duration of their active association with UT Southwestern.
Before installing Sophos, confirm there is no other existing anti-virus software on the computer. Installing multiple/competing anti-virus softwares may cause problems. Please contact a Student Computing Committee Representative or the IR Call Center (214-648-7600) before proceeding if not comfortable removing software from a computer.
To download and install Sophos from campus or with VPN off campus:
- Open a browser window.
- Go to the Sophos Download page.
- Select the appropriate version of Sophos.
- If a window appears asking for confirmation of the download, select "Continue." The Sophos install will now be downloaded. After the installer folder has downloaded, it will open automatically.
- Close all open programs while leaving the installer folder open.
- Double-click the Sophos Installer file (Sophos Anti-Virus.mpkg) downloaded earlier.

- The installer program will launch. Select "Continue" in the first window that appears.

- Confirm the program installation by selecting "Continue" from the Welcome screen.

- Select "Continue" from the Important Information screen.

- In the next step, select the hard drive as the destination for the files that will be unpacked.

- Select "Continue."
- Select "Install."

- A prompt for User ID and password will appear. This is NOT your SouthwesternID and password. This is a separate User ID and password combination needed to install material on the computer. This account would have been created when the computer was first configured. Enter the information and select "OK."

- The installation will now begin. There will be a progress bar reporting the status.

- When the installation is complete, Select "Close" in the bottom right corner of the window. The installation is now complete and a new shield icon has been added to the right side of the menu bar.

- To set Sophos to download updates automatically, the default setting must be changed. Select the "Sophos" icon.
- Select "Open Preferences..." from the pop-up menu.

- Select the "AutoUpdate" tab near the top of the window.

- Select the small lock icon on the bottom left of the window.
- Insert the computer user name and password as done in step 13.

- Confirm "Company web server" is selected.
- Select the small lock icon to prevent further changes.

- In the "URL" box, type the following: http://antivirus.swmed.edu/esosx
- Select the "Set" toward the bottom right of the window.
- Close the window by selecting the red dot at the top left.
- To ensure Sophos is running correctly, select "Sophos" icon
- Select "Update Now" from the pop-up menu. The first time this is done the program may download numerous files. When completed Sophos will be updated.

- Select "Close."
It is not necessary to configure Sophos beyond its default settings, but it is possible. For assistance with any of the steps above or questions regarding Sophos, please e-mail or call (214-648-7600) the IR Call Center.