Scan Files Online For Viruses Using VirusTotal

VirusTotal is an online file and website scanner that uses antivirus signatures from multiple vendors and notifies whether a file or a website is clean or infected.

This can be useful when downloading certain files from the Internet or for checking if attachments in email are clean or not. It is however not a full antivirus application that scans the entire system and cleans any malware / viruses found. However,  this free utility can scan different files and provide a second opinion.

To start using VirusTotal, go here.

Next, upload a file that needs to be scanned. That maximum file size allowed is 64MB. Then, after uploaded simply hit “Scan it!” and wait.

choosing file to scan in virustotal

Th scan will check with multiple antivirus programs to look for any viruses.

file scan in progress using virustotal

Once complete, it will display the various antivirus databases/providers against which the given file was checked and provide a summary.

scan results from multiple antivirus providers using virustotal

Any website too can be scanned in a similar way. Click the “URL” tab and enter the web address that needs to be scanned.

scanning a website using virustotal

The “Statistics” tab will give a useful info about the types of files that VirusTotal checks.

statistics tab in virustotal

various file types scanned using virustotal

 

Do give it a try.