|
|
Spotlighting the best free online virus scanners
|
Every computer owner knows that having an up to date anti virus program installed on their computer is an absolute must. However, there are sites set up that can provide you with a second opinion, or a first opinion if you haven’t yet installed your own anti virus programs. It is important to note that none of these websites do as good of a job as a full virus suite that should be mandatory with every computer. In most cases, the following sites will only detect problems, not remove them. That fact alone has lead to many free online virus scanners to have bad reputations since logic would dictate that these sites would want you to think your system was chock full of problems so you’ll download and pay for their program.
One of the only free online virus scanners that actually gives you the ability to fix the problems it finds is Trend Micro House Call. Simply visit their webpage and ask to perform a free online virus scan of your computer. The scan itself is painfully slow, as almost all free online virus scanners are, but since it is the only one that really offers any reliable cleaning, you have to take what you can get.
The king of free online virus scanners is Kaspersky. Not only does this company make one of the best virus scanners, they also offer a free online virus check that anyone can use. The scan takes a while, but you get the feeling it is because the scan that is being performed is so complete that it is going to take a few minutes. Unlike many of its competitors, this scan can be done on one file, an email, or on your entire drive. If your regular virus scanning program isn’t living up to expectations, try the free virus scan and don’t be afraid to invest in the full version. It is one of the highest rated virus programs anywhere.
While Kaspersky has become the go-to scanner when you need your entire hard drive scanned, VirusTotal has become the best site anywhere for when you only need one file scanned. The only problem here is the file size limit, which is 5mb, so if you have anything larger than an mp3, you will have to choose another site. What makes this particular scanner so reliable is that it uses several different scanning engines to ensure that the file you submitted is clean. As far as free online virus scanners, this is the most complete, per file scanner you’ll find.
Finally, Jotti Malware Scan is expressly tuned to look for spyware and malware and is updated very frequently with the latest bugs. Many people who use VirusTotal also use Jotti in conjunction to ensure that particular files are bug-free. Since all of these programs are absolutely free to use, you can use one, two or all of them in succession if you really need to check out a particular file. Again, these programs should not be used in place of a regular virus protection suite, but they can be used in conjunction with one.
|
|
|
|
> Antivirus Software 
