Sophos Anti-virus Settings for General Download
This procedure can be used to manually set the Sophos Anti-virus configuration to VCU’s default
settings.
1. Open Sophos Anti-Virus by right clicking the blue shield
and selecting Open Sophos Anti-virus .
2. Click on Configure Sophos
Anti-Virus.
3. Click on On-Access Scanning,
which will clean viruses found and
quarantine those it can’t clean.
This window has four different
tabs:
4. Scanning. The default settings are Normal
Scanning level, no other scanning options, and
Enable on-access scanning for this computer
On read. It will slow down your computer if
you choose extensive scanning, scan inside
archive files or scan all files, so we
recommend you don’t choose those three
selections.
VCU’s default setting is to not Scan for
potentially unwanted applications (PUAs) as
part of on-access scanning, because it will
potentially disable some of your applications.
If you would like to learn about the
implications for your programs if you scan for
PUAs, we’ve created separate instructions,
which are available at
www.ts.vcu.edu/security/
VCU-PUAManual.pdf
5. Extensions. This has been set up to scan all
potentially malicious files on your computer.
You can scan all files if you like, but that will
slow down your computer to a crawl.
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6. Exclusions. We’ve set it up to exclude
remotes files, which are files that are not on
your computer that you may link to. This
keeps Sophos from slowing down your
computer while it looks for these files. To
restore this setting, click on the Add button
and choose All remote files from the drop
down menu.
7. Cleanup. You should check the Sophos
setting to Automatically clean up items that
contain a virus. That’s why you have
antivirus software and it means you won’t
have to worry about viruses. The more
confusing setting here is the Do nothing
setting. Do nothing means Sophos will
quarantine the virus in place. That means it
won’t allow the infected file to open or run,
and it won’t let the infection spread to your
computer. But the file will stay (safely) on
your computer.
Very occasionally, Sophos may mark a file as
infected when it’s really not (false positive).
Usually this is because a new virus contains
programming close to something in the file.
Once this is realized, Sophos will
unquarantine the false positive file. If you’ve
moved or deleted the file, Sophos won’t be
able to perform this fix, or the file won’t work
right anymore. That’s why Do nothing is
your safest choice.
8. The VCU default configuration provides a scan for PUA. To learn how to create such a scan, see the
handout at www.ts.vcu.edu/security/Set_up_a_scan.pdf.
Need more help? Remember you can always call the Help Desk at 804-828-2227 or email [email protected]
Sophos Settings
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