Sophos has been around a lot of years and while well respected in the business world they've generally not been know to the home user. Why, simply because they have concentrated on the business and education market. Sophos Home sees them starting to offer free versions of their software to the home user, yes there is a catch, there is limited support, but that's the same with most free A/V.
Home offers up to 10 devices protection and they can be any mix of OS's.
And before anyone says "never heard of them" look at enterprise or business AV rather than consumer, its generally not in many home user charts as they've traditionally not been targeting that area.
They also offer the XG firewall (needs to run on a dedicated or a virtual PC) as well as a software based Threat Management Gateway. Both of which are much more akin to business grade devices than home, most people won't need either but they are free, yes there are limits but pretty sensible ones mainly to stop the software ending up in a business, after all they are a company and need to get paid somehow. It can also help filter web sites, stopping malware, or acting as a level of parental control, controlling Web access and stopping little eyes seeing inappropriate content.
Why do they do it, two fold, the more protected devices around (by any AV) the more everyone is protected, if you don't have malware your not going to be spreading it, and secondly because like every AV vendor they get samples from a wider audience, so they can respond faster and protect their paying customers better.
I'm Just a happy user, I use Kaspersky on the PC's and Sophos and AVG on the Sophos web gateway, everything should e scanned by at least two different A/V products to try and keep malware out my PC's.
All comments (20)
Paradroid
18 Dec 15#1
Been using the corporate version for many years and the home version since beta testing and I can vouch for it being effective. The only thing I don'tlike is that as it's cloud managed you can't switch it if you have no internet connection.
amour3k
19 Dec 15#2
Are these 'Cloud-based' Security Products as good as the non-Cloud Products or something?, or ..... :-)
gavin1 to amour3k
19 Dec 15#4
The control is cloud based, the agent resident on the PC. If the machine is no online it cant receive changes, but then if its offline there should be limited threats..
amour3k
19 Dec 15#3
Does anyone have any 'Live' experience on the Android version of SOPHOS Security Product on SOPHOS's Website?, or ..... :-)
superflyguy to amour3k
19 Dec 15#5
Yes, easy as pie to install, runs silently in the background and doesn't hog resources.
And it's free. :sunglasses:
kiora_nas
19 Dec 15#6
Doesn't like to install with other antivirsuses present
Ingliston
19 Dec 15#7
Excellent find OP. I used to use the commercial version at work, very expensive and very good. I trust this will be on a par.
MisterTIBS
19 Dec 15#8
Special attention really should be made of "NOTE: The Sophos XG Free Home Use firewall contains its own operating system and will overwrite all data on the computer during the installation process. Therefore, a separate, dedicated computer is needed, which will change into a fully functional security appliance."
Cheers though.
harisfrq
19 Dec 15#9
first and foremost i understand that macs are susceptible to virus's as much as any computer. my question is that does this have a performance effect on a mac?
Elevation
19 Dec 151#10
You're in the minority of Apple users then :smile:
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Opening post
Home offers up to 10 devices protection and they can be any mix of OS's.
And before anyone says "never heard of them" look at enterprise or business AV rather than consumer, its generally not in many home user charts as they've traditionally not been targeting that area.
They also offer the XG firewall (needs to run on a dedicated or a virtual PC) as well as a software based Threat Management Gateway. Both of which are much more akin to business grade devices than home, most people won't need either but they are free, yes there are limits but pretty sensible ones mainly to stop the software ending up in a business, after all they are a company and need to get paid somehow. It can also help filter web sites, stopping malware, or acting as a level of parental control, controlling Web access and stopping little eyes seeing inappropriate content.
Why do they do it, two fold, the more protected devices around (by any AV) the more everyone is protected, if you don't have malware your not going to be spreading it, and secondly because like every AV vendor they get samples from a wider audience, so they can respond faster and protect their paying customers better.
I'm Just a happy user, I use Kaspersky on the PC's and Sophos and AVG on the Sophos web gateway, everything should e scanned by at least two different A/V products to try and keep malware out my PC's.
All comments (20)
And it's free. :sunglasses:
Cheers though.