As for viruses and anti-virus software designed to combat them, a lot has been written on this subject. You can check the file for viruses quite simply if you know the main points related to the action of viruses and the principles of operation of antivirus software products. Consider the situation with scanning files for viruses in more detail.
Viruses and their action
The emergence of viruses is associated with the emergence of the first Windows operating systems, in the executable environment of which these malicious programs felt like a fish in water. And over time, not only the OS, but the viruses themselves have undergone very strong changes.
If earlier their action was mainly reduced to a computer system failure, then a little later these pests began to destroy user and system files (remember at least the notorious I Love You virus, which came by e-mail in the form of a love letter or message).
Today, the range of malware is very, very wide. It presents computer worms, keyloggers, and indeed, any malicious codes or executable macros. Note: if at the dawn of its occurrence, viruses were usually represented by .exe executable files, then later they began to disguise themselves, say, as dynamic .dll libraries, .mp3 format music, or even ordinary text files with the .txt extension. Moreover, now many viruses do not look like a separate program, but are embedded, for example, in Microsoft Office documents, so opening such a document can entail the most negative consequences associated not only with the “crash” of the operating system, but also with the seizure of control computer or theft of confidential information and data.
Antivirus software
If you ask yourself how to check a file for viruses, the answer to it is the simplest: use antivirus software. In the modern computer world, this method is the most effective, given that almost every day a huge amount of new malware is created.
If we consider all antivirus programs in general terms, then we can say that you can check for viruses of any of them, since they all work on a single principle, although they use different methods of scanning.
Naturally, it is better to choose software products in which there is a maximum functional set plus "proactive" protection. In this case, it will be very simple to check the file for viruses, because signature, heuristic and behavioral analysis will be applied, and in some cases, checksums will be compared (however, many believe that this method is outdated). But in aggregate, you can get almost a 100 percent result.
Methods for checking files
To date, it is generally accepted that the most common ways to check a file for viruses are two main ones: using special anti-virus programs and online scanning.
Naturally, each scan method has its own advantages and disadvantages associated with the functional set of antiviruses or online services themselves. As the saying goes, it all depends on the software developer or the Internet resource.
Antivirus scan
As for the use of antivirus programs, then checking the file for viruses is quite simple. The fact is that almost all known antiviruses after installation are integrated into the context menu of file managers and create their own quick access commands for this or that action. Thus, there is no need to call the antivirus manually.
For example, when using the Kaspersky Antivirus software package, Kaspersky itself can scan a file for viruses when the “Scan for viruses” command is called, provided that the program version is Russified. Such a command is available in the drop-down menu that appears after a right mouse click on the file to be checked.
Actually, the same Eset NOD32 works in a similar way. In the context menu , only the name of the called command is changed. In this case, it is called "Scan with Eset NOD32" (or Eset Smart Security).
The question of how to check a file or site for viruses is also solved when such scanners are called manually. For example, in the NOD32 application, in the “Tools” menu, there is a special command “Send File for Analysis”. When using this item, you will need to indicate your email address and attach a dubious file, after which it will be sent for analysis to the laboratory of this IT corporation. Here we come close to solving the problem of how to check a file for viruses using specialized Internet resources.
Online check
For online file scanning for viruses, there are a lot of services. Almost all manufacturers of anti-virus software create them. You can use anything you want: the resources of Kaspersky Lab, Eset, Dr.Web, Norton, etc.
For example, one of the simplest and most popular services is Virus Total. To use it, just go to the official website, attach the file or url link to the Internet resource (or the link to the file contained on the page) in the appropriate field and click the "Check" button. Actually, the task is solved how to check the site files for viruses, not to mention checking the files stored on the local computer terminal. True, there is a small snag. The fact is that on the test site itself there is a limit on the size of the scanned files, which is 64 MB (previously 32 MB).
Total
To summarize, it can be noted that all of the above methods are good. Nevertheless, if you need to check a file for viruses or files stored on a hard drive or removable storage medium, it is better to use antivirus software that is installed on your computer. To check resources on the network or files on sites, it is better to use online verification. So you are convinced of the security of the selected source before visiting the resource itself or downloading information from it.