Windows Vista: Configure & Scan Using Sophos

The installer you just ran configured two Sophos Anti-Virus’ features: auto-update, and on-access scanning, according to Simmons Technology’s recommendations. For reference purposes, a list of those settings appears below in the "Run a Sophos scan" section. Read on to learn how to scan your hard drive, or go on to the next step.

If you are working your way through this site because your Simmons Internet connectivity has been restricted, you can save the results of a Sophos Anti-Virus scan and send them to the Help Desk in order to have full connectivity restored more quickly; the instructions to help you do that appear just after the instructions for running a Sophos scan.

Run a Sophos scan

Because Sophos scans every file your computer accesses, it's not normally necessary to scan all of the files on your hard drive. To scan a particular folder or item, right-click on it, and choose Scan with Sophos Anti-Virus.

To scan your hard drive(s) and any other media in your computer:

  1. Locate the Sophos shield in the lower right hand corner of your screen, near the time display. Right-click on the Sophos Shield, then click Open Sophos Anti-Virus.
  2. Click Scan local disks, and Sophos will begin the scan.

If your Simmons Internet Connectivity has been restricted

Run a scan, following the steps above. Then:
  1. After the scan has completed press Alt+Print Screen
  2. Open Microsoft Paint. Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > Paint.
  3. Click Edit, then Paste.
  4. Save the image with "<your name> - Sophos Scan" as the file name and E-mail it to the Help Desk at helpdesk@simmons.edu.

Sophos Anti-Virus Settings

For reference purposes, here are the settings Simmons Technology recommends for Sophos Anti-Virus’ auto-update and on-access scanning. The installer already configured your copy of Sophos this way, and so there is no need to follow these instructions unless you changed some settings and would like to change them back. If you configured Sophos before 3/30/06, please double check that your settings match these as we have changed our recommendations.

  1. Locate the Sophos shield in the lower right hand corner of your screen, near the time display. Right-click on the Sophos Shield, then click Open Sophos Anti-Virus.
  2. You will see the Sophos Anti-Virus main window. Click Configure Sophos Anti-Virus.
  3. Click On-access scanning.
  4. In dialog box entitled "On-access scan settings for this computer," on the Scanning tab, make the following choices:
    1. Leave the "Scanning level" set to normal
    2. Under "Other scanning options," leave all items unchecked.
    3. Leave "On-access scanning behaviour" enabled for on-access scanning, and checking files "on read."
    4. Under "Removable media," check Allow access to drives with infected boot sectors.
    5. Click Apply.
  5. Stay in the "On-access scan settings for this computer" window, click the Exclusions tab at the top, and add three items to the list by doing the following:
    1. Click Add
    2. From the drop down menu, change "Item type:" to File
    3. In the "Item name" box, type inbox.msf
    4. Click OK
    5. Click Add again
    6. From the drop down menu, change "Item type:" to File
    7. In the "Item name" box, type INBOX
    8. Click OK
    9. From the drop down menu, change "Item type:" to File
    10. In the "Item name" box, type *.msf
    11. Click OK
    12. Click Apply
  6. Stay in the "On-access scan settings for this computer" window, and click the Cleanup tab at the top, and make the following choices:
    1. Click Automatically clean up items that contain a virus.
    2. Click Move to, and leave the text box set to the default location.
    3. Click Apply.
    4. Click OK to close the "On-access scan settings for this computer" window.
  7. In the Sophos Anti-Virus main window, click On-demand extensions and exclusions
  8. Click the Exclusions tab, and follow these instructions to add 3 items to the list:
    1. Click Add
    2. From the drop down menu, change "Item type:" to File
    3. In the "Item name" box, type inbox.msf
    4. Click OK
    5. Click Add again
    6. From the drop down menu, change "Item type:" to File
    7. In the "Item name" box, type INBOX
    8. Click OK
    9. From the drop down menu, change "Item type:" to File
    10. In the "Item name" box, type *.msf
    11. Click OK
    12. Click OK again to close the "On-demand extensions and exclusions" window.
  9. In the Sophos Anti-Virus main window, click Right-click scanning
  10. In dialog box entitled "Right-click scan settings for this user," on the Scanning tab, make the following choices:
    1. Leave the "Scanning level" set to normal
    2. Under "Other scanning options," leave all items unchecked
    3. Click Apply
  11. Stay in the "Right-click scan settings for this user" window, and click the Cleanup tab at the top, and make the following choices:
    1. Click Automatically clean up items that contain a virus
    2. Click Move to, and leave the text box set to the default location
    3. Click Apply
    4. Click OK to close the "Right-click scan settings for this user" window

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