VirusTotal is not as reliable as you think, it has a problem that will make you doubt its results and this is the alternative
We have already told you on numerous occasions that it is almost necessary to keep an antivirus installed on our computer. This becomes especially clear if we are working with a Windows computer.
Furthermore, Microsoft's own software offers us an integrated security solution that we find pre-installed, we refer to Windows Defender. Security has become essential these days, especially with the intensive use of the Internet. And we must add to all this that we increasingly work with more sensitive and private data on our computers.
Data that we certainly don’t want to fall into the wrong hands, and malicious parties are looking to intercept it. It is more common than ever for various types of malicious code to reach our devices. Therefore, we must take some precautionary measures to avoid greater evils. In addition to having an antivirus, it must always be updated. On the other hand, we must avoid suspicious downloads or visiting websites with a questionable reputation.
Sometimes, when we download certain files from the Internet, we may find ourselves with some doubts about their reliability. Hence, we have the possibility to use online solutions such as the one offered by VirusTotal , which we can access from this link .
In this case we find an online security platform that allows us to upload those files that we suspect to be analyzed in real time. The VirusTotal web application uses several antivirus programs from its servers to show us the results related to the status of the file we have scanned. It is one of the best ways to make sure that these files are free of all types of malicious code.
However, it is important to know that sometimes the results obtained here are not as reliable as we initially thought. VirusTotal poses a serious problem that you have surely encountered on more than one occasion if you have used it.
- False positives, the big problem when detecting viruses
When we upload a file to an online platform, many antivirus programs analyze it remotely and show us the corresponding results. However, on many occasions, more than we would like, VirusTotal faces the problem of false positives.
These are actually errors caused by the platform where a previously harmless file or program is incorrectly identified as a threat. That is, VirusTotal identifies it as containing some kind of malicious code, which is a lie. As we told you, this is something that can happen more often than you might imagine.
At this point we will have to use some solutions to be sure. For example, if only a small fraction of the many antivirus programs used by the VirusTotal web app show the file as dangerous, it could be a false positive. However, we can also use other similar platforms to be sure before copying the file as such to our computer permanently.
For example, we have the possibility to use an online platform called MetaDefender Cloud which you can access from this link