VirusTotal inspects files, domains, IPs, and URLs with over 70 antivirus scanners, sharing results with the community to raise global IT security. The service also supports various submission methods including web interface, API, and extensions, free for non-commercial end-users.
Comment summary: VirusTotal is widely appreciated as a tool for analyzing files and URLs for malware. Users commend its ability to pre-check downloads with multiple antivirus engines, though there are concerns about frequent false positives and a need for better control over antivirus quality. The service is praised for detailing why a file might be malicious, enhancing security for tech-savvy users. Some critiques highlight potential bypassing of detections and issues with certain antivirus partners.
Top Positive Comment
Xahkyen
★★★★★
•
4
It's a great option to be able to participate in a community way by leaving ratings and comments on the analyzed objects, especially when discussing about false positives.
Top Negative Comment
Benjamin Lupton
★★★★★
•
0
relies on negative reports - so fresh scams are not detected - alternatives like gridinsoft are superior
Mr. Anon
★★★★★
•
1
So helpful to upload a quick file for a sanity check!
Some malicious files could get through undetected. Follow best practices regardless.
There are sometimes false positives, but more than 2 flags you should get suspicious
Check not only the front page flags, but also go through the description and take a look at alternative file names and urls. It could reveal something.
web based antivirus that can scan any file for virus or malware
RemovedUser
★★★★★
•
0
I really like this tool as it allows a good scan of websites and files, allowing an analysis of the links and showing me whether or not I can click on it or open it!
Ideal to keep my Linux Mint more protected and maintain another layer of security for those who connect or work with me.
Review from a new or low-activity account — shown here, but not counted in the app rating.
All the tools, services and so on that we use when we develop AlternativeTo. AlternativeTo is built with Next.JS and .Net Core and is hosted on Azure with a SQL backend. We do use a lot of other services as well and you can read all about them below.
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No Sponsorship: Choices are made without commercial bias.
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No Brand Deals: Independent and unbiased evaluations.
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Proven Track Record: Requiring a history of reliability and positive feedback.
VirusTotal inspects items with over 70 antivirus scanners and URL/domain blocklisting 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.
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.
The contents of submitted files or pages may also be shared with premium VirusTotal customers. The file corpus created in VirusTotal provides cybersecurity professionals and security product developers valuable insights into the behaviors of emerging cyber threats and malware. Through our premium services commercial offering, VirusTotal provides qualified customers and anti-virus partners with tools to perform complex criteria-based searches to identify and access harmful files samples for further study. This helps organizations discover and analyze new threats and fashion new mitigations and defenses.
VirusTotal not only tells you whether a given antivirus solution detected a submitted file as malicious, but also displays each engine's detection label (e.g., I-Worm.Allaple.gen). The same is true for URL scanners, most of which will discriminate between malware sites, phishing sites, suspicious sites, etc. Some engines will provide additional information, stating explicitly whether a given URL belongs to a particular botnet, which brand is targeted by a given phishing site, and so on.
Comments and Reviews
It's a great option to be able to participate in a community way by leaving ratings and comments on the analyzed objects, especially when discussing about false positives.
relies on negative reports - so fresh scams are not detected - alternatives like gridinsoft are superior
So helpful to upload a quick file for a sanity check!
most easy tool to verify URLs/Links!
A few notes on Virus Total:
web based antivirus that can scan any file for virus or malware
I really like this tool as it allows a good scan of websites and files, allowing an analysis of the links and showing me whether or not I can click on it or open it!
Ideal to keep my Linux Mint more protected and maintain another layer of security for those who connect or work with me.