A really basic question

Hello Michael,

yes, you can quit the application. I doesn't affect scanning, only you won't see the exclamation mark overlay in case a threat is found.

Christian

Thanks for that:)

This seems so odd...let me ask a different way: does Sophos work in the background even when the user has "quit" the main application and the icon no longer appears in the dock?

Thanks again.

Hello dbrick,

does Sophos work in the background

yes, you can quit the application in the dock, you can also hide the menu bar icon - the scanning component will continue to work in the background. (it is even still there if you turn off - not recommended - on-access scanning, waiting to perform on-demand/finder scans). An application or process can run without presenting a user interface (as many system processes do).

Christian 

Thank you Christian.

And yet another: does Sophos update itself if it is not launched and showing in the Dock? I looked at Sophos Anti-virus.log, which (to my untrained eye) says that it does not do so.

Thanks again.

Hello dbrick,

it is supposed to update itself - although if you have told it not to update of course it won't. The setting should be visible under Preferences->AutoUpdate - is Check for updates ... ticked? What does the log say to your untrained eye which makes you think it is telling you it doesn't update :smileyhappy:?

Christian

I was too hasty; Sophos does update:I looked at the log again this morning, and the it does show a daily communication by Sophos with its primary server, saying it was upadated, even during the past few days when Sophos was not launched and did not appear in the Dock. I was just too anxious, and I appreciate your reassurance.