Sophos Home Antivirus Review: Does It Stand Out in 2024?

#1 Sophos Review in 2024

Sophos, a British-based cybersecurity giant, has been making waves in the digital protection sphere. With its roots firmly planted in both business and personal computer security, it's become a go-to solution for many. But how does it stack up against industry giants like Bitdefender or Norton? That's exactly what I set out to discover.

In this thorough Sophos review, you'll get the inside scoop on:

• How accurate Sophos's antivirus engine really is
• The speed of its scans (spoiler: it might surprise you)
• The effectiveness of its parental controls
• How well it protects your webcam from prying eyes
• Whether Sophos is worth your hard-earned money

So, buckle up and let's examine the world of Sophos!

In a Hurry? Here's a Quick Summary

If you're short on time, here's a quick rundown of what I found out during my Sophos review. Through comprehensive testing, I determined that while it serves as a solid alternative to popular antivirus programs such as Bitdefender and McAfee, it lacks the same level of strength. Here’s a closer look:

What You'll Like:

• Easy-to-use interface
• Effective malware and web protection
• Remote management of multiple devices
• Decent parental controls
• Webcam protection feature

What You May Not Like:

• Limited scan options
• Above-average system resource usage during scans
• Parental controls are not perfect
• No local settings available (all managed via online dashboard)
• Limited customization options

What Makes This Sophos Review Different?

I’m not the type to just rehash what’s on a company’s website. For this review, I took a hands-on approach. I bought the Premium version of Sophos Home, installed it on my reliable Dell XPS laptop, and rigorously tested it over an extended period.

I've captured numerous screenshots (which you'll see throughout this review) to give you a real, unfiltered look at what using Sophos is like. From the initial purchase to the nitty-gritty of each feature, I've examined it all. And let me tell you, it wasn't always easy – but that's what makes this review authentic.

You're not getting a polished marketing spiel here. You're getting my honest, sometimes frustrated, sometimes impressed, but genuine experience with Sophos. So, let's get into the details, shall we?

Buying Sophos

My experience with Sophos began on their website. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they offer just a single version of their home antivirus solution – Sophos Home to keep things simple. They provide both a 30-day free trial and a paid version called Sophos Home Premium. Premium features include real time scanning, web protection, parental website filters, ransowmare security, protection for 10 devices, and more -- but we'll get to these later.

Now, here's something I really appreciated – you don't need to enter your credit card details for the free trial. It's a small touch, but it shows they're not trying to trick you into a subscription.

For this Sophos review, I wanted to go all in, so I opted for the Premium version. I clicked the "Buy Now" button and was taken to a page where I could choose my subscription length – one, two, or three years. All options came with a 25% discount, which isn't too shabby. However, I've seen better deals out there. Bitdefender, for instance, offers a whopping 60% discount.

I went for the one year subscription and proceeded to the checkout. I could pay by credit card or PayPal – I chose credit card. One thing that caught my eye was the 30-day money-back guarantee. Always good to have a safety net, right?

After completing the purchase, I received an email with all the necessary details: download links, invoice, support options, and a link to the online dashboard. They even included a reference number for potential refunds or payment issues.

Installation

With my shiny new Sophos subscription in hand, I downloaded the installer for Windows 11. The installation process was simple – I clicked "Let's Start," and off it went. No installation options to choose from, which might be a plus for less tech-savvy users, but I personally like a bit more control.

The installation took about two minutes, which isn't the fastest I've seen, but it's not painfully slow either. Once done, I had to create an account. This account is crucial as it's used to manage the antivirus options from the online dashboard.

The Sophos installation screen, showing the progress bar

Interface

Sophos's user interface is the epitome of simplicity. The main window is divided into two parts: a blue panel on the left and the main display area on the right.

The left panel contains several buttons: Status, Dashboard, Add Device, Buy Premium (which disappeared after I entered my subscription key), and Help. At the bottom, there's a light blue Scan button and a link to enter your subscription license.

The main Sophos interface is simple and divided in two parts.

The main display area shows your protection status with a big green checkmark and the message "You are protected!" when everything's running smoothly. If any security modules are disabled, this changes to a red triangle with an exclamation mark and a "You are not protected!" message.

Below this, you'll see the main security modules: Malware Protection, Web Protection, Ransomware Protection, Privacy Protection, and Malicious Traffic Detection. Each module has a simple on/off toggle.

I have to say, the interface is clean and easy to read. It's not flashy, but it gets the job done. Even if you're not particularly tech-savvy, you shouldn't have any trouble navigating it.

General Settings

Here's where things get a bit... interesting. Unlike most antivirus software I've used, Sophos Home doesn't have many settings accessible from the desktop interface. In fact, there are only two options you can access locally: tamper protection and local exclusions. You can find these under Help > Troubleshooting.

The limited local settings available in Sophos Home

The bulk of the settings are accessed via the online dashboard. This is where you can see all the devices you're protecting, add new devices, and configure security settings for each. The dashboard is divided into five main tabs: Status, History, Protection, Web Filtering, and Privacy.

The Sophos online dashboard, showing the various configuration options

In the Status tab, you can see recent antivirus activities. The History tab shows all detected threats, blocked websites, and quarantined items. The Protection tab is where the magic happens – here you can configure general settings like enabling malicious traffic detection, AI/Machine learning detection, and AMSI protection.

The Protection tab in the Sophos online dashboard allows you to enable real time protection, malicious traffic detection, and more.

There are also more advanced settings like Dynamic shell protection and CFT guard to defend against exploits. You can schedule scans here too, but the options are pretty basic – daily, weekly, or on selected days at a specific hour.

While I appreciate the simplicity of the interface, I can't help but feel that Sophos has oversimplified things a bit. Having to go to an online dashboard for most settings feels a bit inconvenient, especially if you're used to having more control at your fingertips.

Major Features

Now, let's dive into Sophos antivirus and explore its key features. We'll unpack what sets it apart and why it might just be the right solution for your digital security.

Scan

Sophos Home provides only one type of scan, which you can start by clicking the Scan button in the main UI. There are no scan settings available in the user interface, which I found a bit limiting. You can access a few options from the online dashboard, like enabling Artificial Intelligence (Machine Learning) and AMSI Protection, setting up a scan schedule, and adding files to an exceptions list.

The limited scan options available in Sophos Home includes managing the scan report.

In my Sophos review tests, a full scan lasted about 28 minutes. It detected a minor threat – a uTorrent installer. While not a severe threat, it shows that the antivirus engine is sensitive to potentially unwanted programs. During later scans, it also detected a few fake threats that I had downloaded while testing the web protection feature.

The scan scheduling options are pretty basic. You can set automatic scans to run daily, weekly, or on selected days at a specific hour. However, you can't select scan locations or the depth of scanning, which might be annoying for more advanced users who want finer control over their scans.

Ransomware Protection

Sophos Home comes with a ransomware protection shield that you can enable or disable in the Protection > Ransomware tab of the online dashboard. Here, you can also enable Sophos to protect against remotely run ransomware and prevent ransomware from tampering with your storage configuration.

The Ransomware protection settings in the Sophos online dashboard are limited.

To test the effectiveness of this feature, I used a ransomware simulator. Sophos successfully stopped 14 out of 22 ransomware simulations. This is a decent result, considering that the average success rate for antivirus software is about the same.

While not perfect, Sophos's ransomware protection seems to be on par with industry standards. It's reassuring to know that you have an extra layer of defense against this particularly nasty type of malware.

Web Protection

Sophos provides standard protection against web threats. It blocks webpages containing malware (such as spyware, trojans, and ransomware) or phishing attempts and prevents the download of malicious files from websites.

Sophos blocking a malicious website from eicar.org.

During my tests for this Sophos review, I accessed several known threat websites using multiple browsers (Chrome, Edge, and Firefox). Here's what I found:

• Maliciouswebsitetest.com was successfully blocked
• All threats on WICAR were blocked
• On AMTSO, all but one of the threats were blocked
• All downloadable threats on EICAR were blocked

Interestingly, when Sophos blocks a website, it doesn't give you the option to proceed at your own risk. You can only return to the previous page. While this might be annoying for advanced users, it does provide an extra layer of protection for less experienced users who might accidentally allow access to a dangerous site.

Web protection settings in the Sophos online dashboard include safe online banking, adding website exceptions, and more.

You can configure web protection settings in the online dashboard. Options include toggling web protection on/off, enabling download reputation checks, safe online banking protection, and HTTPS website decryption (disabled by default). There's also an option to add website exceptions.

Parental Controls

Sophos Home's parental controls are a bit different from what you might expect. Instead of a separate application, these features are integrated into the main antivirus software and managed through the Web Filtering tab in the online dashboard.

Parental control options in the Sophos online dashboard include configuring the site categories to block.

From here, you can block browsing to various categories of websites, such as Entertainment, Gambling, Religion, and more. There's also an option to block adult websites, including porn, criminal activity, and alcohol-related content.

In my tests, Sophos blocked most of the adult and gambling websites I tried to access. However, a few adult sites slipped through the cracks, which is something to keep in mind if you're relying on this feature to protect children.

Sophos blocking an adult website.

One feature I particularly like is the ability to remotely control content access for any device, regardless of the platform. This makes it easy to manage multiple devices for different family members.

As with other features, you can add website exceptions to the parental controls. This allows you to fine-tune the protection based on your family's needs.

While not perfect, Sophos's parental controls offer a decent level of protection and are easy to manage. However, if parental controls are a top priority for you, you might want to consider a dedicated solution for more comprehensive features.

Webcam Protection

In today's digital age, webcam protection has become increasingly important. Sophos Home includes a feature that alerts you to unwanted use of your webcam and notifies you when an application accesses it.

Webcam protection settings in Sophos include getting notifications when webcam is used.

When an application attempts to access your webcam, Sophos displays a popup window alerting you to this fact. This gives you the opportunity to allow or block the access, providing an extra layer of privacy protection.

While testing this feature for this Sophos review, I found it to be responsive and reliable. It consistently alerted me when applications attempted to access my webcam, giving me peace of mind about my privacy.

USB Protection

Sophos's USB protection can be accessed from the online dashboard under the Protection > Exploits tab. It's called "Risk Reduction" and is enabled by default.

USB protection settings in Sophos -- there are various options such as risk reduction, dynamic shellcode protection, and more.

This feature provides protection against common infection vectors, such as malicious USB devices. When you insert a USB drive, Sophos automatically scans it for threats.

The USB protection comes with several advanced settings, including options to stop sandbox-aware malware, prevent backdoor traffic, protect against process hollowing, and prevent DLLs from loading from untrusted folders.

During my tests, I found this feature to be quite effective. It successfully detected and blocked a test file I placed on a USB drive, demonstrating its ability to protect against threats from removable media.

System Performance Impact

One area where Sophos falls a bit short is in its system performance impact. During a standard scan, Sophos Home consumes up to 50% CPU and almost 1GB of RAM. This is significantly higher than the average of 25% CPU and 500MB RAM that other antivirus programs typically use.

Task Manager showing Sophos's resource usage during a scan

Unfortunately, there are no options to reduce the impact that Sophos has on your system. This could be a significant drawback for users with older or less powerful computers, as it could significantly slow down their system during scans.

Sophos Review: Conclusion

After rigorously testing Sophos Home, I've come away with mixed feelings. On one hand, it offers a simple, easy-to-use interface that's perfect for those who aren't especially tech-savvy. The online dashboard provides a unified way to manage multiple devices, which is a definite plus.

The security features, for the most part, perform well. The ransomware protection is on par with industry standards, web protection is nearly perfect, and the antivirus engine is meticulous, using advanced algorithms like machine learning and AMSI protection.

However, there are some disadvantages to consider. The high system resource usage during scans is concerning, especially for users with less powerful machines. The lack of local settings and limited scan options might frustrate more advanced users who prefer detailed control over their security software.

Also, the parental controls, while decent, aren't perfect, and might not be sufficient for those who need extensive content filtering for their children. For more comprehensive solutions, I recommend visiting TotalAV, Norton, or Bitdefender.

The key takeaway from this Sophos review? It's solid choice for those who want a simple, no-fuss antivirus solution that offers good protection against most threats. It's especially well-suited for families or individuals with multiple devices to protect. However, if you're an advanced user looking for extensive customization options or if system performance is a top priority, you might want to consider other options.

Octav Fedor (Cybersecurity Editor)

Octav is a cybersecurity researcher and writer at AntivirusGuide. When he’s not publishing his honest opinions about security software online, he likes to learn about programming, watch astronomy documentaries, and participate in general knowledge competitions.