Sophos is blocking Vivaldi Again!

lucassasiain

So I can't choose my browser now, I love Vivaldi but can't use it because Sophos favors Chrome as everybody else. I hate it! Is there something we can do to use Vivaldi again!?

Pesala

@lucassasiain Uninstall Sophos is the obvious solution. The other option is to inform Sophos of the false positive

There have been many discussions about Antivirus blocking perfectly safe programs.

I have not used a third-party AV or Firewall since switching to Windows 10. In my experience, they cause more trouble than they are worth.

I do run the free Malwarebytes from time to time, but almost never find anything.
Edit: Just ran it again. Nothing detected as usual.

Catweazle

According to AV test, the current Windows Defender is a good AV at the height of any of the comparative AVs, therefore it is no longer necessary to use a third party AV, as in the past.
Having Malwarebytes, or just AdwCleaner at hand, is always a good option to eliminate annoying PUPs that are not normally detected by any AV.

Pesala

@rafiki said in Sophos is blocking Vivaldi Again!:

Does Defender protect against ransomware

So far so good, but see How to Enable Ransomware Protection in Windows Defender

lucassasiain

@Pesala I wish I could, I know this is not Vivaldi's fault. Unfortunately my company uses Sophos and I can't just uninstall it. I was hoping there was a workaround

Hadden89

@lucassasiain As a corporate user you should do a bug report
(And if there is will from Sophos to cooperate a fix for V may appear)

And totally agree with @Pesala

In my experience [third-party AV/Firewalls] causes more trouble than they are worth.

You may also check in your sophos settings - hoping is not a managed app - if you can whitelist vivaldi in some manner.
[As I fear wouln't be easy|possible to persuade the SysAdmin to do that for you]

greybeard

Perhaps this does not apply to you but I have been using Sophos Home for several years now and have never had an issue with Vivaldi, either download or upgrade.
Even before Vivaldi changed their User Agent I had no issues (it now identifies as Chrome if I am not mistaken).

Sophos is updated quite regularly so that would not be an issue.
Has your Windows had the latest updates? One may depend on another.

Having your IT Specialist file a bug report for you may be most effective.

Good Luck

Gaëlle

@lucassasiain sorry for the trouble and thank you for reporting it. One of our dev contacted them and apparently your support case is moving forward on their side. Hopefully they shared a solution to your issue already.

Catweazle

@greybeard , I think that an AV, apart from the UA, is also guided by other factors when reviewing software. It is possible that precisely with the change of the UA agent, Sophos identifies Chrome, but with a different behavior. Possibly this is what led to a false positive.

Vincent500

@rafiki said in Sophos is blocking Vivaldi Again!:

Does Defender protect against ransomware?

Note that third-party AV products often offer better ransomware features. As you can read in the article below, the main features of windows defender against ransomware are protecting folders from unauthorized access and backing up your files to onedrive. Third-party av products often offer more protection in preventing that the ransomware can 1) actually execute or downloaded to your computer and 2) block ransomware from encrypting your files (where windows defender more passively only tries to protect your important files and leaves the rest for granted.). third-party AV's often also offer more protection features like web protection (blocking websites) or improved firewall. That lack of features in windows defender is why i prefer having another antivirus.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/how-to-enable-ransomware-protection-in-windows-10/

Catweazle

@Vincent500 , I think the protection of files in W10 is enough, in its protection against ransomware it is certainly passive, avoiding the loss of files and documents. The system itself is well protected given the W10 Sandbox system, which prevents malware and viruses from accessing the system.
In other words, with a regular backup of important documents, the damage caused by a ransomware will be practically zero, because if there is a ransomware hosted on the PC, it can be easily eliminated, for example, by applying the TDSSKiller in a timely manner.
In W10 the only reason to use a third party AV is for the only drawback that Defender has, of having (for the moment) a slightly higher share of false positives, than the other AVs, but not for the degree of protection, practically 100%.
Microsoft has learned a lot from the past as the main target of virus and malware attacks and today the result is one of the best protected OS (almost too much)

Vincent500

@Catweazle It certainly did improve over the last years to a good AV product that can compete with other av products. I think it is a personal preference which AV you want and it also depends on your technical skills. I personally just have the feeling that a third-party AV just more actively guards your pc than windows defender, but that I also where you pay for.

Catweazle

@Vincent500 , it is true that a third party AV can offer additional services that Windows Defender does not offer, such as online security, protection against PUPs, or / and, like the Panda Dome that used before, a VPN service.
Although this already depends on the preferences of each one. Ultimately the best protection is common sense.