Even if you have a virus scanner on your computer, having an extra one is often a good idea if you’re installing something that you downloaded from the internet. Two minds, as they say, are better than one. Although 43 are even better, and that’s what VirusTotal gives you.
Upload a file and, within half a minute or so, it’ll be scanned by no less than 43 different programs and the results instantly displayed. Real fast scanning and reliable, more than anything if you ask me. I make a point of using VirusTotal to check every file that I download on the web, whenever possible. One problem, though, is that the site has always refused to check files larger than 20 MB. In the past couple of weeks, according to their updates following a redesign, the site now accepts uploads of 32 MB. So if you’re unsure about the precise provenance of a file or document that you’ve been sent, now is a good time to get into the habit of using VirusTotal before opening or running it on your computer.
This program works really well when scanning Word Documents, PDF´s, Excel’s documents, etc. Mostly if you are one of those people who like to wonder around in the net looking for ebook, and other documents of interest.
The only disadvantage I found on this software is that:
The free software version of the program does not include the ability to run OCR (optical character recognition) on a scanned document. Many times that is the only reason to convert it to text; to make it editable in a word processor.
So, in conclusion, this software is a good choice to check small documents or downloaded files. AS a matter of fact this is one of the most used software in offices around the world, its fast, easy, and FREE to USE.
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