Virus Total: Check for Infection on the Cloud!

It is a must in having at least one security software in every computer of a Microsoft Windows user. Some have two; one for real-time protection and another one for on-demand scanning. I used to have two as well for experimenting purpose (a combination of Kaspersky Internet Security 8 & Avast! once, and another one a combination of ESET SmartSecurity & F-Secure Antivirus 2009), but later reverted back to using a single antivirus software.

Problem is, different antivirus software has different scan & detection engines with their own strength & weakness, which means you might face problems in choosing you favorite antivirus software. Some antivirus claims to have the best detection but they actually missed the kind of virus you thought it should have caught; some antivirus which the public claim as rubbish actually caught & removed an aggressive virus and save the day. In short, other's opinion no longer is the key to you purchasing your favorite antivirus. The reality is, no antivirus software in the world are perfect; different types of antivirus software just detects different types of virus.

Secondly, there is a reason why users cannot have more than ONE antivirus running at the same time. Due to the software architecturing of security software, having two antivirus running at the same time mostly will cause massive trouble. User's PC may run slower or (to a serious degree) even freeze to a halt, computer might crash when two antivirus engine caught the same trojan at the same time and worst of it all, if your security software come bundled in the form of internet security package which consist of antispyware, firewall, antispam and antirootkit protection....your PC will be in a sate of conflict, not only with detecting viruses, but even with firewall settings and other stuffs that matters.

If you are yearning to see which antivirus performs to your expectation, and you're itching to have more than one antivirus running at the same time over a single file you suspect is infected, then you've come to the right place.

Virus Total is an online virus & malware scanning service managed by Hispasec Sistemas, a Spanish online security & information technology company. The company's aim at delivering this service is to encourage user participation in the fast detection of unknown viruses, thus facilitate a better antivirus software for the future. The service is free of charge, and users can upload the file they suspect is infected to have it scanned by no less than twenty antivirus software engines. Uploading time depends on the file size, and reports are displayed in a new tabbed window.

Main page of Virus Total, where you can upload suspected file for scanning

The antivirus software used in the scan ranges from the famous Avast!, AVG, Kaspersky & Symantec (Norton) to the relatively unknown yet powerful (in my opinion) F-Prot, GData and Panda. Besides displaying the scan results, user can even have an insight on the antivirus's version and the last time it updated its database. Even though Virus Total's scan results does not garuantee the harmlessness of a file (if all antivirus list the uploaded file as clean), it does help eliminate the two problems that i've mentioned at the start of this post: unreliable single antivirus detection rate & the inability of host PC to run more than one antivirus at the same time.

List of antivirus scan results displayed alphabetically. This is not my screenshot, though...:)

Even though this service is free of charge, remember though, that the uploading of a file can be tiresome, especially if there are alot of users who are using the services during the time of your uploading. Personally, i suggest that it's best that users should only upload files with a small size for malware check in order to not get frustrated. I would also like to stress that although this online service offer detection from many antivirus, it is always a wiser decision to install an antivirus on your host computer. Remember: the service will not watch over your computer for virus, nor will it be there for you if you're not online!