Home Forums Mac Software Mac Applications sophos antivirus

OS 10.5.8
Since the installation of the home edition sophos, my imac has been noticeably slower. I've been reading a sophos forum and many users are having the same problem. I went to sophos prefs and unchecked "scan inside archives and compressed files" and immediately my mac is back to normal i.e. much faster.
I'm thinking of leaving it that way and if I should download anything in the future,
I'll reset the default and scan the files OR reset the default before the download.
Which is preferable? Or does it matter?
jaybass

No experience with Sophos per se, but any AV software I am familiar is MUCH slower processing compressed files. I use Kaspersky AV and it specifically warns about this in the preference settings and my testing has born this out. Scanning compressed files eats CPU cycles and memory like it is going out of style.

As to when to scan the files I have Kaspersky setup to perform a manual scan on just the download folder which I run manually if I have a suspicious download. The routine scans do not scan compressed or archived files.

joe,
After reading your reply, I decided to check the prefs for sophos and the option to scan manually. It can be done but I found unnecessarily complicated ( for me anyway) I checked your AV software but paying every year is not for me.
I had heard of ClamXav with favorable reviews so I downloaded it and found it to be just what I wanted. It allows you to scan whatever you wish. There is a source list which when first opened, listed my home folder, desktop & documents. It gives the option of adding other folders e.g. downloads so you can be more selective in scanning. I havn't noticed any difference in speed. I do have to check it out further though. It is also free.
Thank you for your reply,
jaybass