Sophos antivirus software is one of the most well known and well respected anti-malware tools for the Mac. It’s distributed under the name Sophos Home to differentiate it from the company’s tools aimed at businesses and is available in free and premium versions. If you have downloaded it to try it out and no longer want it on your Mac, here’s how to remove it.
How to uninstall Sophos antivirus from your Mac
Provide your administrator account password for your Mac and click OK. (Not your Sophos Home password) Wait for the installation to finish. This may take a few minutes. If this is the first time installing Sophos Home on this Mac, be sure to allow Sophos extensions if prompted. Please see this article for assistance. Sophos Home Free (for Mac) keeps configuration to a minimum, but doesn't have independent test scores to verify its accuracy. It can be a good choice for protecting your Macs at no cost. Sophos Home for Mac Antivirus - Free Download. Includes a 30 day trial of Sophos Home for Mac Premium, with advanced ransomware scanning in real time. Download Free Mac Antivirus Scanner & Malware Removal.
When you install Sophos Home on your Mac, it should also put an uninstaller on your boot drive. So the first step is to find that uninstaller.
- Press Command + Space or click on the Spotlight icon in the menu bar.
- Type ‘Remove Sophos Home’.
- When Spotlight finds it, select it and press Return.
- Click Continue when it launches.
- Type in your Mac admin user name and password.
- Wait for the uninstallation to complete and press Close.
If you use Sophos Home on other computers or think you might in the future, you should also remove your Mac from your Sophos Home dashboard.
- Log into your Sophos Home dashboard on a web browser.
- Choose the Mac from which you just uninstalled Sophos.
- Press Remove, then OK, when prompted.
Sophos Mac Review
Delete Sophos leftovers
Sometimes the uninstaller will return an error message, which can happen because of corrupted files or remains of files from previous Sophos installs or installations of other antivirus programs. In that case, Sophos advises running a script in Terminal to remove it. However, it also advises that this method should only be attempted by advanced users. Thankfully, there is another option for the rest of us.
If you can’t find the Sophos uninstaller on your Mac, and don't want to run a script, the other way to uninstall it quickly and easily is to use CleanMyMac X. The Uninstaller module in CleanMyMac X can uninstall any app, removing all the files and folders that are scattered around your system. It can also reset other misbehaving apps so they return to the state they were in when you first installed them. This is how it works.
BTW, CleanMyMac X is notarized by Apple so it’s a perfectly safe app to use.
Sophos Home Premium For Mac
- Install the free version CleanMyMac X by downloading it and following the instructions.
- Launch it from your Applications folder.
- Choose the Uninstaller module from the list on the left.
- Locate the app you want to uninstall in the list in the main window.
- Check the box next to the app.
- Press Uninstall.
Remember, we said earlier that one of the reasons the Sophos uninstaller might fail is that there are remnants of previous installations still on your Mac. Well, CleanMyMac X can help there, too. It has a ‘Leftovers’ feature which tracks down files and folders that were left over when you removed apps previously. To see them, click on Leftovers in the middle window. You can then choose the leftovers you want to remove by selecting them and pressing Uninstall.
Sophos Mac System Requirements
Sophos Home is a popular antivirus app for the Mac. It has free and premium versions. However, there are several Mac anti-malware tools available and it may be that you no longer want Sophos on your Mac. If that’s the case, follow the steps above to uninstall it. And don’t forget to use CleanMyMac X to get rid of the remnants of files cluttering up your Mac.