When in Doubt, Let VirusTotal Check It Out

When in Doubt, Let Virus Total Check It Out

Virus Total is a Cloudeight Site Pick

Many times we email from people asking us if a download is safe. We are familiar with a lot of software but we are not familiar with every program or app you may be wanting to install. If we recommend something we test it is safe and we also make sure the site we send you to download the software is safe.

We use Emsisoft on all our computers, but we never know what someone else is using… it could be AVG, Avast, McAfee, TrendMicro, Norton, or some other antivirus. And sometimes someone using one of the others (not Emsisoft) will write us and tell us their security software found a problem with a file or program we recommended.

So, how do we know the file is safe, even if some antivirus says it isn’t? We use VirusTotal to scan the file with more than 70 different scanners to determine if a file is safe, whenever we have the slightest doubt. The last thing we’d ever want to do is not be certain before we recommend something to you.

Virus Total is free and it’s easy to use. Anyone can use it. You can upload a file to VirusTotal. You can upload a file from your computer to VirusTotal, use a URL (link) to the download file, or you can use the search on VirusTotal to check out a file you’re considering downloading.

Above: VirusTotal is easy to use. You can upload a file from your computer, paste a link to the file, or search for the filename.

Above: VirusTotal scanned this file with over 70 different scanners (including Emsisoft). Two of the scanners found a problem with this file. But none of the others did.

Above: There are more scanners listed but you get the idea,  right? You may, on occasion, see where one or two scanners detected a problem with a file you submitted for examination. In the screenshot directly above you can see the file was scanned by all 70-plus scanners and only two found a problem with the file we submitted. Conclusion… the file is safe. When you see this kind of result, you know that the scanner(s) that found a problem is/are reporting a false positive.

So, now it’s time to bring in VirusTotal’s people and have them tell you a bit more about VirusTotal before we send you on your way:

“…VirusTotal inspects items with over 70 antivirus scanners and URL/domain blacklisting services, in addition to a myriad of tools to extract signals from the studied content. Any user can select a file from their computer using their browser and send it to VirusTotal. VirusTotal offers a number of file submission methods, including the primary public web interface, desktop uploaders, browser extensions and a programmatic API. The web interface has the highest scanning priority among the publicly available submission methods. Submissions may be scripted in any programming language using the HTTP-based public API.

As with files, URLs can be submitted via several different means including the VirusTotal webpage, browser extensions and the API.

Upon submitting a file or URL basic results are shared with the submitter, and also between the examining partners, who use results to improve their own systems. As a result, by submitting files, URLs, domains, etc. to VirusTotal you are contributing to raise the global IT security level.

This core analysis is also the basis for several other features, including the VirusTotal Community: a network that allows users to comment on files and URLs and share notes with each other. VirusTotal can be useful in detecting malicious content and also in identifying false positives — normal and harmless items detected as malicious by one or more scanners.

Free and unbiased

VirusTotal is free to end users for non-commercial use in accordance with our Terms of Service. Though we work with engines belonging to many different organizations, VirusTotal does not distribute or promote any of those third-party engines. We simply act as an aggregator of information. This allows us to offer an objective and unbiased service to our users…”

Now it’s time for you to check out and/or use VirusTotal by visiting their Website here.

And here’s a tip from good ol’ Darcy and TC: It would be a great idea to bookmark VirusTotal  – a day will come when you’ll want to use it.