Goodbye Sophos, Hello Microsoft Defender
Quick Summary
- IT will begin rolling out Microsoft Defender on May 11. Defender replaces Sophos.
Beginning May 11, college IT staff will begin removing Sophos from computers and replacing it with Microsoft Defender.
Why we are making his change
Microsoft Defender is now included with our campus Microsoft licensing. This change allows us to reduce IT expenses as we will no longer need to pay for the additional licenses of Sophos. In our testing, Microsoft Defender utilizes fewer system resources than Sophos.
What to expect
Windows
A restart of the system will be required to complete the removal of Sophos. A prompt will appear to ask you to restart your system at your convenience. After the restart, you'll notice the Sophos icon (a blue shield with an "S" in the center) on your task tray will be replaced by the Microsoft Defender icon (a blue or white shield drawn in four quadrants).
MacOS
The transition to Microsoft Defender will occur in the background. No intervention or action is required. You'll notice the Sophos icon (a blue shield with an "S" in the center) on your toolbar will be replaced by the Microsoft Defender icon (a blue or white shield drawn in four quadrants).