Do you ever find yourself hesitant to download a file from a website because you’re unsure if it’s safe? While your antivirus software is a good option, there’s another alternative that can give you added peace of mind. You can scan any file for malware with over 70 antivirus engines before downloading it.
To get started, locate the file’s download link. Be sure to copy the direct link to download the file, not the address of the file’s download page. You can find this link by hovering over the download button and viewing the address in your web browser. Right-click the link and select “copy link address” in Google Chrome, “copy link location” in Mozilla Firefox, or “copy link” in Microsoft Edge.
Next, head over to virustotal.com in your web browser. Don’t worry, this tool has been owned by Google since 2012. Click the “URL” tab on the web page, then paste the link you copied into the URL search box. Click the search icon on the right or press enter to scan the file for any issues.
VirusTotal will download the file you specified to its servers and scan it with a large number of different antivirus engines. If someone else has scanned the file recently, VirusTotal will show you the most recent scanned results. If you get a “no engines detected this URL,” that means none of VirusTotal’s antivirus engines found that there was a problem with the file. If you get a green “0/79,” that means the file was detected as malicious by none of VirusTotal’s 79 antivirus engines, which is good news.
If one of the antivirus engines detects a problem with a file, you’ll see a message saying that several antivirus engines detected the URL has a problem. You can also upload a file and scan it for any problems by clicking the “file” tab, then clicking the “choose file” icon. A new window will open, and you can select the file you want to scan. VirusTotal will scan the file you uploaded, and when finished, you’ll receive your results.
By following these simple steps, you can have more confidence in the files you’re downloading and keep your computer safe.