remove the "scan with sophos anti-virus" finder menu command

I too have this issue now in the year 2017, as OP was from 2012.

Whe had Sophos Anti-Virus on Mac OS 10.7, after upgrade directly to Mac OS 10.12 (Sierra) Sophos Anti-Virus was incompatible software. We still have the context menu option "Scan with Sophos Anti-Virus", but strange enough only for the main user. A new user does not have it. There is no "/Library/Contextual Menu Items/Sophos Anti-Virus.plugin" nowhere (except it hides itself for protection reason and I can't get at it). I did run the (old) "Remove Sophos Anti-Virus".

When I install the current Sophos Anti-Virus, the context menu item in question is correctly replaced with "Services", but when I de-install Sophos Anti-Virus again (to verify), the context menu "Scan with Sophos Anti-Virus" re-appears. Any and all searches for 'sophos' or for the text ("Jetzt mit Sophos Anti-Virus scannen") do not show any results.

What else can be done to remove the old, outdated "Scan with Sophos Anti-Virus" definitely?

I too have this issue now in the year 2017, as OP was from 2012.

Whe had Sophos Anti-Virus on Mac OS 10.7, after upgrade directly to Mac OS 10.12 (Sierra) Sophos Anti-Virus was incompatible software. We still have the context menu option "Scan with Sophos Anti-Virus", but strange enough only for the main user. A new user does not have it. There is no "/Library/Contextual Menu Items/Sophos Anti-Virus.plugin" nowhere (except it hides itself for protection reason and I can't get at it). I did run the (old) "Remove Sophos Anti-Virus".

When I install the current Sophos Anti-Virus, the context menu item in question is correctly replaced with "Services", but when I de-install Sophos Anti-Virus again (to verify), the context menu "Scan with Sophos Anti-Virus" re-appears. Any and all searches for 'sophos' or for the text ("Jetzt mit Sophos Anti-Virus scannen") do not show any results.

What else can be done to remove the old, outdated "Scan with Sophos Anti-Virus" definitely?

If you're simply trying to get rid of multiple listings for Sophos when you right-click on an item and get Services, open System Preferences>Keyboard>Shortcuts, pick Services from the list on the left and scroll down the right side window until you reach the Sophos listings. There will probably be more than one checked. Unchecking all but the one that works (test the Services Menu listing to ensure you've left the correct one checked) should solve the problem.

+ installing the current version of Sophos AV does not even remove the outdated "Scan with Sophos Anti-Virus".. It is simply moved to the new Context Menu Item 'Services'.

Which 'Services' then contains 'scan with Sophos Home', outdated "Scan with Sophos Anti-Virus", 'scan with Sophos AV'. Some other Context Menu Items are also moved to Services, namely Folder Actions and Show in Finder.

This is really strange I have no clue as where to look for, except here.

Peter Fink said:

...This is really strange I have no clue as where to look for, except here.

Have you tried following the steps I suggested to remove the extra "Services" listings for Sophos?

no (your answer was not yet there when I composed my extra) but I detected it today myself.

I found this:

The (old) Scan with Sophos Anti-Virus gets completely deleted, as soon as the old (incompatible software) is completely trashed from the computer.

The new context menu items mean:
Scan With Sophos Home - opens Sophos Home.
Scan With Sophos Anti-Virus - scans the items selected immediately.

Their location depends. When there are four or less such context menu items they get listed inline. When there are five or more, they get listed as 'Services'.