How To Scan A Download Link For Viruses

If you lot're concerned a file might be malicious, you don't need to download it and rely on your antivirus. Y'all tin can scan the file for malware with over 60 antivirus engines before y'all download it—all with one single tool.

RELATED: Basic Computer Security: How to Protect Yourself from Viruses, Hackers, and Thieves

This is no substitute for basic online security practices that can keep y'all safe from phishing and other threats, merely it'south a way to perform a more in-depth bank check if you lot're concerned about a file.

Browse a Link For Malware Using VirusTotal

To practice this, you lot'll need to locate a file's download link. That's the directly link to download the file, not just the address of the file's download folio. For case, if you want to scan a .exe file, you lot'll demand the directly link to the .exe file. If y'all want to browse a .doc file, you'll demand the straight link to the .doc file. You can spot this by mousing over the link and looking at the address in your browser.

Right-click the link and select "Re-create link address" in Chrome, "Copy Link Location" in Firefox, or "Copy link" in Edge.

Next, head to VirusTotal.com in your web browser. This tool has been owned past Google since 2012.

Click the "URL" tab on the page and and so paste the link you copied into the box. Click the search button or press Enter to browse the file.

VirusTotal will download the file you specified to its servers and scan it with a big number of different antivirus engines. If other people have recently scanned the file, VirusTotal will show y'all the recent scan results.

If you see "No engines detected this URL", that means that none of VirusTotal's antivirus engines said in that location was a problem with the file.

The "0/65" ways the file was detected as malicious by 0 of VirusTotal'southward 65 antivirus engines. This means it should exist clean. Of course, information technology's possible that new and exotic malware may not be detected by any antivirus programs yet, so it's e'er a adept idea to be conscientious and only become software from sources you lot trust. (In fact, not two days after publishing this article, our example file—CCleaner 5.33—was found to comprise malware. A perfect example of how VirusTotal, while useful, isn't perfect!)

If one of the antivirus engines detects a problem with a file, y'all'll see a annotation saying that a number of antivirus engines detected the URL equally a problem.

In some cases, the opinion may be near unanimous. In other cases, only a few antivirus tools may accept a problem with the file. This is oft a false positive, though in certain circumstances it could be that some antivirus tools have spotted new malware before others. Yous can ringlet down to run into which antivirus tools had a problem with the file, view more details nearly the file, and run across community comments nearly whether the URL is condom or non. (In some cases, for example, it may just be flagged for including bundled crapware, which is hands bypassable.)

If you end up scanning a file download page instead of the downloaded file itself, you'll come across a "Downloaded file" link on the VirusTotal page. Click the icon to the correct of "Downloaded file" to run across more analysis almost the file that web folio downloads.

Integrate VirusTotal Into Your Browser

To make this process easier, the VirusTotal project offers browser extensions. These volition integrate VirusTotal into your browser, allowing you to right-click a link on whatsoever web page and select a "Scan with VirusTotal" option. You won't have to visit the VirusTotal website and copy-paste a link.

Extensions are available for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Internet Explorer. Download the appropriate extension and you lot can correct-click a link and select the VirusTotal selection to quickly scan it and meet the results.

If VirusTotal is unanimous that a file is dangerous, y'all should stay away. If the results are mixed, yous should exist careful, just you may want to examine the more detailed antivirus results to see why they say the file is unsafe.

If a file is make clean, that means it'due south not detected by any antiviruses as malware. That doesn't mean information technology's safe, of course—antivirus software isn't perfect and may not observe new malware, so ensure you're getting your programs from a trusted source.

RELATED: What is Typosquatting and How Exercise Scammers Use it?