Uninstall Sophos Anti-Virus & Sophos Firewall

Discussions around the setup, operation, replacement, and disposal of clerk computers, not to include using MLS
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tioscooter
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Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:39 pm

Uninstall Sophos Anti-Virus & Sophos Firewall

#1

Post by tioscooter »

I installed the Sophos Installation software (and Symantec Removal program, from MLS.LDS.org local unit security website) on my home computer because I needed to install MLS on a backup machine temporarily. Now that I have uninstalled MLS I cannot uninstall Sophos Anti-Virus or Sophos Client Firewall. No Sophos products appear on my Add/Remove Program list, nor do I know which processes/program to just delete it from my computer.
Like other users have expressed in other forum posts, I do not have "sufficient rights" to configure or otherwise change the Sophos program.
Help I would like to remove this software, I doubt that I should still have it on my machine, and my computers performance is slowed down considerably having it installed.
jdlessley
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#2

Post by jdlessley »

OK, we'll dispense with the comments about how you got into this situation in the first place. But just for the benefit of other forum visitors I will state, regardless of the reason, Church software should only be installed on the computers for which they have been approved or licensed for use. That being said we can move on.

The Sophos programs can be removed while logged onto any Windows administrator account if installed from an administrator account. While you may have limited access rights to configure the program from a generic administrator account you can still remove it.

Sometimes programs can be installed from Windows user accounts that have power user rights. When installed from such an account they sometimes do not appear in Add or Remove Programs in a Windows administrator account but only in the Add or Remove Programs of the Windows power user account from which it was installed. I do not know if Sophos even can be installed from such an account. But as part of the trouble shooting steps I recommend going to the Windows user account from which the Sophos programs were installed and then opening Add or Remove Programs. If not there then either the program uninstall was run or the program name was removed from the list of registered programs.

The best way to get the programs uninstalled when not listed in the installed programs list or the program uninstaller is no longer available is to install the programs again to get the registry settings back that for some reason are not there. Make sure the programs are installed from a Windows administrator account. After the programs are installed the registry keys and paths will be recreated necessary to use the Windows uninstaller from the Add or Remove Programs applet.
JD Lessley
Have you tried finding your answer on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org Help Center or Tech Wiki?
crislapi
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#3

Post by crislapi »

If it truly was short term, you could try using system restore. Any updates that occurred since will just download and install again, and you can reinstall any other programs you might have added since you installed Sophos. Your other files and documents will not be affected.
crislapi
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#4

Post by crislapi »

Incidentally, I checked on my computer today - sophos does not appear on the add/remove programs list. I'm sure this is by design. The old system, symantec, did but you had to have a password to uninstall it.

Have you considered calling LUS to obtain uninstall instructions?
jdlessley
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#5

Post by jdlessley »

crislapi wrote:Incidentally, I checked on my computer today - sophos does not appear on the add/remove programs list. I'm sure this is by design. The old system, symantec, did but you had to have a password to uninstall it.

Your post has reminded me about the unique status of Sophos. The Sophos programs are indeed not listed in any of the standard Windows user account Add or Remove Programs lists. Due to security reasons I cannot provide the method to uninstall Sophos here in these forums.
crislapi wrote:Have you considered calling LUS to obtain uninstall instructions?
This would be my recommendation at this point.

Until I can check further about the propriety in giving out the removal instructions, especially for this situation, I will not.
JD Lessley
Have you tried finding your answer on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org Help Center or Tech Wiki?
tioscooter
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Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:39 pm

#6

Post by tioscooter »

jdlessley wrote:Your post has reminded me about the unique status of Sophos. The Sophos programs are indeed not listed in any of the standard Windows user account Add or Remove Programs lists. Due to security reasons I cannot provide the method to uninstall Sophos here in these forums.

This would be my recommendation at this point.

Until I can check further about the propriety in giving out the removal instructions, especially for this situation, I will not.

I contacted Sophos directly. Due to the licensing nature of their products they cannot provide me any support. I am required to seek support through the license holder. Is there a way to contact IT support for Sophos (Uninstall) outside of the forum channels?
Can you walk me through the uninstall steps you have identified?
Aczlan
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Location: Upstate, NY, USA

#7

Post by Aczlan »

tioscooter wrote:I contacted Sophos directly. Due to the licensing nature of their products they cannot provide me any support. I am required to seek support through the license holder.
No surprise there, corporate support for most companies will only work with authorized tech people from the company who bought the license.
tioscooter wrote:Is there a way to contact IT support for Sophos (Uninstall) outside of the forum channels?
Contact the Global Service Desk: http://tech.lds.org/wiki/Global_Service ... IT_Support, explain what happened and ask nicely for them to help you remove it or give you some direction on where to go.

Barring that, being as you are having a problem with removing Sophos and you have found that you don't have sufficient privileges, I might try a web search for "remove sophos insufficient privileges" and see what turns up (especially on the Sophos forums)
You could also try downloading the manual from: http://www.sophos.com/support/docs/Endp ... n-all.html and reading it.

Aaron Z
russellhltn
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#8

Post by russellhltn »

When all other options have been exhausted, there's always one that works: Backup, Reformat, Reload.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
lajackson
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#9

Post by lajackson »

RussellHltn wrote:When all other options have been exhausted, there's always one that works: Backup, Reformat, Reload.
True. But in this situation, Sophos is not hard to uninstall. You just need to know how, and we cannot tell you here at the Forum. Your Assistant Stake Clerk--Technology may be able to help you.

Read all of post #7 again. Then, if you still have trouble and either are the STS or the ward clerk, PM me with some identifying information, your first-born, and your latest 100% home teaching report, and I will see if there is anything I might do to help you out of this pickle. [grin: see first sentence post #2]
tioscooter
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Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:39 pm

#10

Post by tioscooter »

Thanks everyone for your help. The information was already out there in the Sophos documentation.
I just needed to understand how to use a computer better...
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