Sophos Update

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Sophos Update is a utility that enables the automatic updates of IDE for Sophos Anti-Virus. The software was develloped for Windows 2000/XP and Windows 98/ME.
March 2005 Sophos came with a new version version of Sophos Anti-Virus (v 5.x) that supports automatic updates. This utility cannot be used for this new version, because home users can also update directly from the Sophos update servers. Sophos Update can only be used for the 3.x versions of Sophos Anti-Virus for Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP and 2003.

Click here to display frequently asked questions.

To use this tool you need a legal and up-to-date installation of Sophos Anti-Virus. This tool depends on the free offered updates of Sophos Plc. This is software is NOT part of any Sophos product. Sophos is a registered brand that is owned by  Sophos Plc. This product is just a way to update IDE's in a more convenient way. The product uses the GNU untility WGET. The update method is based on the following article:
http://www.sophos.com/support/knowledgebase/article/378.html

Updates are supported by Sophos up to 3 months after the release of the Anti-virus software.
Please note that making illegal copies of Sophos Anti-Virus sofware is a serious crime!

To be able to run the software you must install the Micosoft .NET Framework.
You can install the .NET framework using Windows Update or download it from Microsoft  (.NET framework version 1.1 and .NET framework Service Pack 1)

Click here to download Sophos Update (664kB)

Please remove previous versions and reboot you system before you start installation.

Release history:

Notes:

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the installation requirements?

For Windows 98/ME

For Windows NT4/2000/XP

What is the .NET framework, and whe do I need this?

The .NET framework is a component that offers a large number library's to write easy applications for several platforms. Sophos Update was based on this component. You can download the .NET framework using Windows Update or download it from Microsoft  (.NET framework version 1.1).
You can install the .NET framework using Windows Update or download it from Microsoft  (.NET framework version 1.1 and .NET framework Service Pack 1)

Who can use Sophos Update?

Sophos Updated was made for home users that have a valid licence agreement and can download sophos at www.sophos.com. Some company's did not implement an update server to alow home users to update there anti-virus software. Sophos offers the RemoteUpdate product, but this only works in combination with an Intranet connection and a Installation point maintained with Sophos Enterprise Manager.
Most home users only update there anti-virus software once a month. Updating new released identities (IDE's) is difficult and time comsuming process that is not suitable for must home users. Sophos recomments using a batchfile and WGET to update Sophos. This concept is used bij Sophos Update.

Windows XP will report that Sophos is OUT OF DATE when SP2 is installed and you did not update the monthly version. In fact Sophos is UP TO DATE as long as the download for new IDE's is supported.

Do I still need to update Sophos Anti-Virus?

Yes, Sophos update only updates IDE files. You still need to update the monthly released, but you do not need to update the IDE-files any more. After updating the montly version of Sophos it is recommended to perform a manual update (right-click->Update now!). Sophos supports IDE's for 3 months on older versions.

What are the possible update options, and what do mean?

Sophos Update can automaticly update under different certain conditions. All update options are enabled by default, but can be turned off.
The following table shows the possible options and when they are useful:

Option

Triggers when

Useful for

Check for updates at startup

NT4/2000/XP/2003: The service has started.
98/XP: The system tray application hast started.

Computers that are switched of for a longer time.

Check for updates if just connected to the Internet

The primary IP-address changes to an address not equal to 127.0.0.1 and the last update was at least 6 minutes ago.

Laptop users, not connected to the Internet all the time.
Modem users, connecting only to the Internet for collecting E-mail.

Check for updates every hour

60 minutes after startup or the last update. The last update should be at least 6 minutes ago.

Computers that are always on and need a permanent protection.

Sophos Update is installed as a service, why do I need the systray application?

On Windows NT4/2000/XP Sophos Update is installed as a service. When the service is running, all update tasks are performed by the service. In that case the application in the system tray is only used to notify about updates and to enable to change the settings. You can disable the system tray application by toggeling 'Start program at startup/login' in the Settings menu of the settings/status dialog (double click the notify icon of use the context menu), disabling this option does not deactivate the Sophos Update service. If you installed Sophos Update with an other useraccount and you want to enable the system tray application, you need to select the option 'Everyone ' at installation. When logged on as an other user you need to start 'Sophos Update' from to start menu and manually select the startup option from the menu.

For Windows 98/ME the system application also performs the updates, and should be started when the computer starts if you want automatic updates.

How does Sophos Update perform updates?

Sophos Update uses the downloadable ZIP-files from www.sophos.com. First the version of Sophos is determined, then the corresponding ZIP-file is downloaded and expanded. For each IDE-file the existence is checked. The IDE is installed if it is not installed yet or is updated if the existing IDE-file is older than the new one. After updating the IDE files, Sophos Update will try to restart the Sophos Service (NT/2000/XP/2003) of the Intercheck process (W98/ME). Updates will not be performed if Sophos Update detects that Sophos Anti-Virus is in setup mode. This makes Sophos Update useful for laptop users even when automatic updates on the corparate-network are enabled.

Manual updates and several settings are not enabled , what can I do?

When running Sophos Update on NT4/2000/XP or 2003, Sophos Update is installed as a service. Updates, trigger information from the system tray application is communicated using a registry value under the LOCAL_MACHINE hive. To be able to change settings you must be able to write the registry keys under HKEY_LOCAL_MACINE\Software\JBSoft\SophosUpdate. By default a normal user account will no be enabled to change these registry values.

How does Sophos Update detect new available versions of Sophos Anti-Virus?

From version 1.1.7 Sophos Update supports the detection of a new available version. When updating IDE's Sophos Update reads the version of the currently installed Sophos product from the registry. Then the ZIP-file belonging to this version is downloaded to update with the correct set of IDE's. Once a day after about 5 minutes of runtime Sophos Updates tries to download zip-files for higher version of Sophos Antivirus. When this is succeding, the will be a new version available of available soon. Sophos Update will blink it's notify icon and will report to eventlog and with a balloon message (not for Windows 98) at the systray (when notifications are enabled only).