Are there any Free Web-Based Virus Scanners?
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What is more stupid… running your face alongside a cheese grater, or running Limewire? I argue that it’s far healthier to run your face on the cheese grater. What can you do if you don’t run an anti-virus on your desktop? Or what if you download something but want to be 100% sure it’s not a malicious file before you install or run it? Is there any other way to protect yourself?
P2P programs are a breeding ground for malware of all types. That’s why I always recommend you stay away from programs like that, not counting the fact that much of what you would download is illegal. I’m just talking about the viruses, trojans, rootkits and spyware that can and will infest your machine.
Anyway, if you come across a file that you’re just not sure of, you may run it through your desktop client. We all know that desktop solutions can have false positives, or totally miss something it really shouldn’t. How can you be sure it’s safe then?
Well, there are a couple of excellent places online where you can test single files. The first of these is VirusTotal. Virustotal is a free service that will run a file through 32 separate anti-virus programs. Afterwards, it will give you a report. The report will contain the results from each AV, the date of the last update of each AV.
There are two blogs found on Lockergnome that you can always count on to keep you up-to-date with the latest information on what Security products are good, what’s in, what’s out and what to stay away from. One is written by Kat. Both of them are Microsoft MVPs. Ron’s MVP award area is in Windows Desktop Experience, and Kat’s award is in Consumer Security. Both are well known in their fields, and know what they’re talking about.
If your program reports something as bad that you aren’t sure is… why not take an extra moment to run the file through VirusTotal? What are your thoughts on P2P programs, and even computer security programs?
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18 Comments
YouTube - Are There any Free Web-Based Virus Scanners?
June 9th, 2008
at 10:56pm
[...] run an anti-virus on your desktop? Is there any other way to protect yourself? More information: http://chris.pirillo.com/2008/06/09/a... Category: Science & Technology Tags: video help information [...]
ookami
June 9th, 2008
at 11:14pm
I have always been wary of P2P programs. I do not believe that there is a program that can truly rid you of any adware, malware, or other infiltrating programs. With that said, if you pay, it can be argued that they will be able to update on a larger scale and encompass or use a greater quantity of resources. But they are still software, and software is not perfect.
With that said, I prefer AVG and a few other programs, even realizing their detection rate is not the best. I do this because I think the best anti-virus program is just being smart or careful. Using unsecured or out of date browsers, not updating software, etc. can harm you. So just be smart about what you download, use, etc. and you will be fine.
Brad
June 9th, 2008
at 11:28pm
I get asked a lot about false positives and missed files from natively-run systems. One of my favorite ways to avoid this is by running Housecall from TrendMicro. It’s free, and does a pretty admirable job of scanning systems. The fact that it’s not running natively helps out with not missing dangerous files.
Outsanity
June 9th, 2008
at 11:46pm
i actually heard of VirusTotal on a filesharing site. it’s a great site for everyone to use and worth bookmarking.
Czar
June 10th, 2008
at 3:17am
Another good online scanner is http://www.virusscan.jotti.org
Tom Aneurin Davies
June 10th, 2008
at 4:15am
I’d prefer the limewire because you can wipe virtually all evidence of your stupidity if you want to. Avg free is a bit naff mate I use symantec client security.
Diana
June 10th, 2008
at 4:50am
I run limewire and share (non-copyrighted) music on aGmIRCc, a mIRC offshoot, and have never found either to be buggy, though I run several spyware and adware seekers and anti-virus programs. I’ve never found a thing. Am I just begging for infection? My chatroom buddies would disagree.
Nick Rector or Rectorna
June 10th, 2008
at 6:46am
Chris,
Downloading and using lime is just about as dumb as trying to raise money to buy something by letting people shoot you for a dollar. I personally use symantec for all of my viral needs. But over all thanks for showing us this program I will defiantly start to use it.
Haxale
June 10th, 2008
at 9:42am
I like Trend Micro HouseCall (housecall.trendmicro.com)
cananito
June 10th, 2008
at 4:57pm
That’s pretty nice site. Too bad it’s just for one file, they should let you add like lot’s of them at a time, I was about to say free full computer scan with all the anti-virus, but I’m guessing that would take ages plus lot’s of traffic xD
YouTube - Are There any Free Web-Based Virus Scanners?
June 11th, 2008
at 12:31am
[...] Honours for this video (7) Loading… Sites linking to this video (5) Clicks URL 106 http://chris.pirillo.com/2008/06/09/are-there-any-fr... 15 http://chris.pirillo.com/ 9 http://www.google.com/reader/view/ 2 [...]
JMan3451
June 11th, 2008
at 10:34am
Peer Guardian ftw
lol
i’ve never heard of such a thing before now
when i saw the title i thought chris was gonna talk bout programs that u downloaded like avast
this is a great find thanks!
Vincent
June 13th, 2008
at 4:28am
I have a mac so I don’t need to wory about viruses much
E2001
June 14th, 2008
at 12:19pm
As to P2P programs being “dangerous”; they’re only as dangerous as the people who use them. Most of the people spreading viruses on those networks don’t even know they’re doing it. And nearly all of said malware originates from “Crackz & Serialz” sites anyhow.
That being said; you can avoid most malware threats by avoiding Warez (P2P) & Porn altogether. If you don’t play on those playgrounds, but you still manage to contract a virus; then I would suspect hubby of cheating! :-)
Tyler’s Blog
July 5th, 2008
at 11:57pm
Chris Pirillo What Other Free Software do I Need? Where can you Watch Severe Weather Videos Online? Have you ever Been to a LAN Party?Are there any Free Web-Based Virus Scanners?Thoughts on Apple’s WWDC 2008, iPhone 3G?
sbushfan11
July 6th, 2008
at 12:33am
I’ve been using Nod32 for over two years. From time to time I’ll scan using trend micro’s house call on their site. For spyware scanning I use Ad-Aware and Spybot. I don’t use p2p networks, and I am cautious about what attachments I open. This has kept me alive and kicking for a long time without having to reinstall the system. Thanks for the info about VirusTotal.com.
JBP915
July 6th, 2008
at 8:01am
And this is another reason not to use Lime, and Bit torrent . You said it right Chris. Just plain S T U P I D.
Good web base scanner , used it on a friends laptop.
Are There any Free Web-Based Virus Scanners? can you download youtube : lowpricedmonumental
October 22nd, 2008
at 2:06pm
[...] http://live.pirillo.com - What is more stupid… running your face alongside a cheese grater, or running Limewire? I argue that it’s far healthier to run your face on the cheese grater. What can you do if you don’t run an anti-virus on your desktop? Is there any other way to protect yourself? More information: http://chris.pirillo.com/2008/06/09/a…; [...]