Sophos Home: Totally free antivirus for home

[LDogg]

Definitely one free AV people have an afterthought of, or overlook. Has come leaps and bounds since I first had an introduction to this software, however I fear for it's future.

~LDogg

 

[Antus67]

Os4a has ia good point first of all we appreciate the free offer but don't you just wonder in the past this was a paid product now its being offered for free? Possibly is there a hidden agenda behind this offer??? I'm a bit leery on this offer,I hope I'm wrong

 

[notabot]

Definitely one free AV people have an afterthought of, or overlook. Has come leaps and bounds since I first had an introduction to this software, however I fear for it's future.

~LDogg

You mean they may exit the consumer market and focus only on enterprise ?

 

[Moonhorse]

Definitely one free AV people have an afterthought of, or overlook. Has come leaps and bounds since I first had an introduction to this software, however I fear for it's future.

~LDogg

I think opposite of their future, for me sophos free seems like top 3 av along with kaspersky + wd even it probably dont score high alone but its perfect software to combo something with, ml as bonus

Their customer support always answers to me ( free user) within hours

They just released intercept x as free mobile antivirus , previously known as sophos av wich has features same as paid ones

I really dont see anyone using freemium version of home premium anywhere, but they profit enough from enterprises and they also have hmp + hmpa to profit from

Cant see it just randomly dying after its only been improved from past, 30-50% sales from paid version being offered all the time ..though anything can happen

 

[Pat MacKnife]

Update for Sophos Home 2.1.9

Download Sophos Home 3.0.0

Download Sophos Home - Protect all of your home computers from cyber threats by turning to this lightweight, yet efficient application that comes with a simple interface

www.softpedia.com

Windows 2.1.9 - November 4, 2019

Applies to: Sophos Home Windows 2.1.9 This article shows fixes and features added to the Sophos Home Windows 2.1.9 released on November 4, 2019. Windows - Sophos Home version 2.1.9 Fixes in 2.1...

support.home.sophos.com

 

[upnorth]

They just released intercept x as free mobile antivirus , previously known as sophos av wich has features same as paid ones

Sophos Intercept X for Mobile - Apps on Google Play

Mobile Threat Defense (MTD) and antimalware protection for Android devices.

play.google.com

 

[oldschool]

Sophos Intercept X for Mobile - Apps on Google Play

Mobile Threat Defense (MTD) and antimalware protection for Android devices.

play.google.com

I wonder if it uses less resources than the last last AV version?

Edit: After looking at the reviews I'm going to hold off on this one and let others be the Guinea pigs.

 

[woodrowbone]

Hi guys, after reading this thread I decided to take the Home version for a spin again.
I did test it when they released it, but back then it was not mature enough in any way as far as I am concerned.

As many of us in here admins friends and family, it is always a good thing having a web console.
Sophos console works, but after I did use the former free business version of Avast I am rather spoiled by that web console.

The app itself (using the paid trial at the moment), I have to crown it world champion in using many processes (20) and consuming memory (around 400MB!)

I am testing the protection right now, and it takes time to remove a malware pack of around 400 files, in fact I had time to write this in the meantime, and I am a slow typer... and there is still more then a hundred left to remove.
Compared to the fastest in removing malware I have tested recently (Immunet!), this is soooo slow.
Immunet did the same pack in under 2 sec! It left 3 files that in the end CFW/CS had to take care of, but still.

10 min later, still 67 files to go, but hang on, we will get there
Ehh, wait! It was actually done with realtime scanning, it left 67 files.
I did a manual scan as well, but still 67 pieces left.

Time to execute!
It seems Sophos did something with almost all the files left (cleaned), a couple of them did run normally and CFW took care of them as Sophos did nothing.
I will continue as soon as I get some fresh samples to test, as this felt a bit inconclusive in the end.

Bare in mind that this test is done by a non professional, and does only reflect my personal opinion.

Malware provided by TestMyAV.

/W

 

[Moonhorse]

I will continue as soon as I get some fresh samples to test, as this felt a bit inconclusive in the end.

Thanks for testing, would be interesting to see future reviews...if you could post some pictures too it would be perfect

 

[blackice]

Hi guys, after reading this thread I decided to take the Home version for a spin again.
I did test it when they released it, but back then it was not mature enough in any way as far as I am concerned.

As many of us in here admins friends and family, it is always a good thing having a web console.
Sophos console works, but after I did use the former free business version of Avast I am rather spoiled by that web console.

The app itself (using the paid trial at the moment), I have to crown it world champion in using many processes (20) and consuming memory (around 400MB!)

I am testing the protection right now, and it takes time to remove a malware pack of around 400 files, in fact I had time to write this in the meantime, and I am a slow typer... and there is still more then a hundred left to remove.
Compared to the fastest in removing malware I have tested recently (Immunet!), this is soooo slow.
Immunet did the same pack in under 2 sec! It left 3 files that in the end CFW/CS had to take care of, but still.

10 min later, still 67 files to go, but hang on, we will get there
Ehh, wait! It was actually done with realtime scanning, it left 67 files.
I did a manual scan as well, but still 67 pieces left.

Time to execute!
It seems Sophos did something with almost all the files left (cleaned), a couple of them did run normally and CFW took care of them as Sophos did nothing.
I will continue as soon as I get some fresh samples to test, as this felt a bit inconclusive in the end.

Bare in mind that this test is done by a non professional, and does only reflect my personal opinion.

Malware provided by TestMyAV.

/W

This

Thankfully most people don’t need their AV to scan and remove that many malware files at once. Thanks for sharing your results.

 

[Aggravatorx]

I have done the same woodrowbone did last night it seemed to install a lot faster but as mentioned how many processes needed
to be running.so agreed

 

[oldschool]

Update for Sophos Home 2.1.9

Download Sophos Home 3.0.0

Download Sophos Home - Protect all of your home computers from cyber threats by turning to this lightweight, yet efficient application that comes with a simple interface

www.softpedia.com

Windows 2.1.9 - November 4, 2019

Applies to: Sophos Home Windows 2.1.9 This article shows fixes and features added to the Sophos Home Windows 2.1.9 released on November 4, 2019. Windows - Sophos Home version 2.1.9 Fixes in 2.1...

support.home.sophos.com

I tried it again yesterday to check it out and my machine slowed noticeably. I found install time about the same as all earlier versions and its initial scan is faster than I remember. Yes, it has many more processes than the original Sophos Free version. I don't mind the memory usage but surfing was slow and overall performance bogged my laptop. I really want to like Sophos but ...

 

[Moonhorse]

On freemium version i have 18 processes ( memory usage of around 80mb) been working whole day on pc and ran few scans even

I can say that it runs as smooth as kaspersky cloud free on my pc, takes less resources than wd to scan

 

[blackice]

I tried it again yesterday to check it out and my machine slowed noticeably. I found install time about the same as all earlier versions and its initial scan is faster than I remember. Yes, it has many more processes than the original Sophos Free version. I don't mind the memory usage but surfing was slow and overall performance bogged my laptop. I really want to like Sophos but ...

Previously the Home Premium version would run slow initially until it had scanned through everything and checked the cloud, then it would run lightning quick on my machine.

 

[oldschool]

Previously the Home Premium version would run slow initially until it had scanned through everything and checked the cloud, then it would run lightning quick on my machine.

Yes, I remember previous reports of this nature. I am currently running TinyWall Beta and I couldn't whitelist it, as much as I tried. These two issues were just too much for me.

 

[blackice]

Yes, I remember previous reports of this nature. I am currently running TinyWall Beta and I couldn't whitelist it, as much as I tried. These two issues were just too much for me.

Yeah it has some quirks for sure.

 

[woodrowbone]

Thanks for testing, would be interesting to see future reviews...if you could post some pictures too it would be perfect

Hehe! With a three year old at home I am happy to be able to post at all
I will try to update here when I have some alone time.

/W

 

[LDogg]

I think opposite of their future, for me sophos free seems like top 3 av along with kaspersky + wd even it probably dont score high alone but its perfect software to combo something with, ml as bonus

Their customer support always answers to me ( free user) within hours

They just released intercept x as free mobile antivirus , previously known as sophos av wich has features same as paid ones

I really dont see anyone using freemium version of home premium anywhere, but they profit enough from enterprises and they also have hmp + hmpa to profit from

Cant see it just randomly dying after its only been improved from past, 30-50% sales from paid version being offered all the time ..though anything can happen

What I mean't by this post wa sthe fact that Sophos was being taken over by another firm, as I fear for it's future, when the takeover happens, if this business doesn't get a decent amount of profit they'll sell the company, even before than could do major cost cutting measures.

~LDogg

 

[Dave Russo]

Will Sophos incorporate HitmanPro.Alert into this product?

It is incorporated

 

[plat]

if this business doesn't get a decent amount of profit they'll sell the company,

Sophos is sold already, taken over by investment firm Thoma Bravo. But true, kinda wonder what its future holds.