Downloading software is often how malware ends up on a computer. Here’s some good ways to check your software:
See What People Are Saying
Search "[software name]" malware virus before installing. If a program is known to have malware, you’ll usually see it mentioned it forums or Reddit threads.
Use VirusTotal Service
VirusTotal is a free online tool that allows you to check to see if a file or URL contains viruses and malware.
You can upload a file to the VirusTotal website or enter a URL. It will inspect the item with 70 antivirus scanners and URL blacklisting services.
Use A “Sandbox”
If the file is a beta or a newly released tool, you can you opt to use a sandbox (isolated environment):
You can upload your software to Any.Run or Hybrid Analysis. These services execute the file in a sandbox and show you everything it does.
Run it in a virtual machine
Use VirtualBox, VMware Workstation Player, or Windows Sandbox (built into Windows 10/11 Pro and Enterprise):
- Open Start → type “Windows Sandbox” and launch it
- Drag the downloaded file into the sandbox window
- Run it there — anything it does is isolated from your real system
- Close the sandbox to discard everything
Scan a compressed archive’s contents
If you downloaded a .zip or .rar, extract it into a separate folder first and scan each extracted file — malware sometimes hides inside archives where AV engines only check the outer wrapper.
