Checking a link contains no malware before downloading...

[Big Rig]

I've recently purchased some software that I need to download via a link. How can I be certain it contains no malware? I've put the URL into VirusTotal and it all came back clean apart from the last few detections.

[Mr Whippy]

Try a USB loaded version of Linux. Load into that and then it's all on the USB stick.

Even unplug the hdd if you're super worried while you run it.

Iirc Win10 pro also has some kind of sandbox doesn't it?

Win10 should also smart screen the file, then crc check it, then also heuristic check on download, then also real-time check.

Plus virus total is generally saying all ok. So if a handful of checkers you'd otherwise trust say it's ok I'd think it's ok... I'd usually trust MalwareBytes for instance.

[xeny]

You can't. If you don't trust them why did you give them money?

[Mr Whippy]

I'd install Win10 on a random machine.

Install glasswire or malwarebytes WFC.

Get it all up and running with nothing important on there (no credit card, email addresses etc, just a vanilla install)

Install software. Keep an eye on it's traffic. See what it does.

If it's not hammering the firewall or getting inbound requests, or encrypting your hdd, then probably safe.


Need more details really.

[The_Jackal]

What and who are you downloading from?
IS it an official source or are we talking about cracked software?
Just make sure you have a half decent malware and antivirus.

[Rameez-Q]

Big Rig said:

I've recently purchased some software that I need to download via a link. How can I be certain it contains no malware? I've put the URL into VirusTotal and it all came back clean apart from the last few detections.

You never can be, anything can be hacked.

However it's typically only done if it's worth it, use Quttera they use a realtime malware scanner to download the files and scan the files themselves and will provide a report noting if there's anything malicious found.

Alternatively you could download a program then scan before execution or upload it to an online malware scanner.

Other things you can check is that if the file has a saved hash somewhere that when you download the file you check the hash is the same as expected which will confirm it's not been tampered with.