Sophos Enterprise Console
15 Prepare to protect computers
Before you protect computers, you must prepare them as follows:
• Prepare for removal of third-party security software.
• Check that you have an account that can be used to install software.
• Prepare for installation of anti-virus software.
15.1 Prepare for removal of third-party security software
If you want the Sophos installer to remove any previously installed security software, do the following:
• If computers are running another vendor's anti-virus software, ensure that its user interface is closed.
• If computers are running another vendor's firewall or HIPS product, ensure that it is turned off or configured to allow the Sophos installer to run.
If computers are running another vendor's update tool, you may want to remove it. See "Remove third-party security software" in Sophos Enterprise Console Help.
15.2 Check that you have an account that can be used to install software
You will be prompted to enter details of a Windows user account that can be used to install security software. It must:
• Have local administrator rights on computers you want to protect.
• Be able to log on to the computer where you installed Sophos Enterprise Console.
• Have Read permission to the location that computers will update from. To check this location, in the
Policies pane, double-click Updating, and then double-click Default.
Note
If the Policies pane (bottom left-hand side of the window) is not displayed, on the View menu, click Endpoints.
We recommend that the account:
• Is not a domain administrator account and is configured for constrained delegation.
• Has no administrative rights or any elevated privileges on the computer where Sophos Enterprise
Console is installed.
• Has no Write or Modify permission to the location that computers will update from.
• Is used only for protecting computers and not used for general administrative tasks.
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Sophos Enterprise Console
• Has its password changed frequently.
15.3 Prepare for installation of anti-virus software
You may need to prepare computers prior to installation of anti-virus software. For advice, see the Sophos endpoint deployment guide ( https://docs.sophos.com/esg/enterprise-console/tools/ deployment_guide/en-us/index.html
), the section about preparing computers for deployment.
We recommend that the computers being protected have a firewall enabled.
Note
After the computers have been successfully protected and appear as managed in Sophos
Enterprise Console, consider disabling any firewall exceptions created specifically to allow remote deployment on the computers.
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