2022-10-26
Popular browsers have a built-in indicator of potentially dangerous sites, but this tool cannot be compared with a full-fledged antivirus program or specialized services.
There's always a chance of stumbling upon a page with malicious /files. To protect your personal data, computer, iOS and Android devices it is recommended to check suspicious links and sites for viruses. The methods are listed from simple to complex, step-by-step instructions for users of all levels, there are also instructions for webmasters.
Content :
Checking for viruses via online services
Popular antivirus programs have free online services to check a specific link and the procedure is done in a few clicks.
Kaspersky Threat Intelligence Portal
Kaspersky Threat Intelligence Portal is an effective site to check /files and suspicious links for viruses. The databases are updated nearly every day and the service is free for home use.
- Go to opentip.kaspersky.com.
- In the center of the page there is a line to enter the suspicious link the user wants to check.
- Copy the address of the desired site: IP, domain name or the full URL of the link.
- Paste the copied text in the search field.
- Press "Look up".
- The service takes some time to scan the data, you should wait for the analysis results.
- Threat Intelligence Portal will display the results.
- If you see this message with the status Good, the site is safe according to Kaspersky.
- The status Dangerous for a link or site indicates that it is not safe to visit this address.
Disadvantages :
- service is not adapted to mobile devices
- does not always work fast: checking one URL can take several minutes.
Benefits :
- Huge database of potentially dangerous sites;
- Kaspersky Online Scanner supports sending /files (up to 256 MB)
- Check the link from both the PC and an iOS or Android mobile device.
Go to the site
VirusTotal
VirusTotal allows you to check any website for security, examine /files, archives, folders for viruses. It works with over 70 antivirus scanners, so there's no need to worry about the quality of the scan.
Check the site as follows:
- Click to go to VirusTotal: //www.virustotal.com/gui/home.
- Go to the "URL" tab
- Copy to the clipboard the URL to be checked.
- Paste the link in the search field and press Enter.
- Wait for results (less than one minute).
- In this example you can see that the site has successfully passed the security test: it is clean in all databases.
- If the service has returned a couple of hits, do not worry: Most likely the threat is false.
- If the site is infected, this is indicated by notes indicating the type of threat: for example Phishing, Suspicious, Malicious etc.
Deficiencies :
- often the VirusTotal results are too suspicious: There are /files or links included which are not viruses.
Benefits :
- speed and stability of the scanner
- can download /files
- large antivirus database
Dr.WEB Online
Dr.WEB offers online checking of links for phishing and redirect viruses (whether or not the checked link redirects to another page). It uses a proprietary anti-virus database which has proved itself over the last 10 years.
The service can be used either via the web interface or via the Dr.Web Link Checker extension for Firefox, Chrome or Opera browsers. We will consider the online service.
Check Internet pages for viruses is performed as follows:
- Go to the Dr.WEB Online website: //vms.drweb.ru/online/.
- Copy to the clipboard the link to be checked: the full address (or the domain, i.e. the website address).
- Paste the URL in the text field.
- Press the "Send" button.
- Wait while Dr.WEB examines the HTML and JS code of the page.
- The presence or absence of viruses on the page can be checked via the status and icons above the checked html code.
Benefits :
- The results of Dr.WEB are more detailed than those of Kaspersky.
- Redirect link checking
- High speed performance
- Browser extensions available
Yandex and Google
The main search engines have their own tools to check the site for viruses. They are targeted to webmasters who own a website or are in charge of maintenance. In any case the verification of the ownership of the website is required.
- Yandex Webmaster
- Google Webmasters Tools
Google will also help to verify the security of any website by using a specific search engine.
Paste the following link into the address bar and enter the following site after the "=" sign:
//www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=
Browser Antivirus Check: Avast Internet Security
Often a site checker is bundled with an antivirus program. Such add-ons are often included with paid anti-viruses. But if required you can use this as a browser extension - it is free and does not require antivirus on your computer.
The Avast Internet Security extension for the Opera browser is used as an example. Other site checking tools for viruses are installed in a similar way and this also applies to other popular browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Yandex). Now to the point:
- Download the extension for your browser.
- Download for Firefox
- Download for Google and Yandex browser
- Click the "Add" button and wait for the installation of the extension.
- Find the Avast icon in the top right corner of your browser, right click on it to go to settings.
- The default settings are optimal and you may disable the extension in the corresponding menu if necessary.
When you install different antivirus, please pay special attention to additional features: in some cases the browser tools are present in the extended versions of the program. Make sure that the tool is enabled: the extension icon should be active. Otherwise the antivirus check of the page will not be performed.
Installing the antivirus scanner on your hosting
Webmasters will also benefit from specialized scanners such as AI-Bolit (official download site). For viruses (phishing, redirects, malware) it is possible to check the local or online version of the site.
- From the home page you can choose the tool you are interested in, some of them are paid.
- Download the scanner, install it on your hosting and specify your website.
- The tool will now monitor all /files, pages, php and js code.
Offline site virus checking
If you are creating or promoting a website, you should pay attention to protecting it and perform regular virus checks. You can check the /files of the site without the Internet, on your computer. To do this you need to collect all /files related to your site in one folder.
Start scanning this directory with a suitable antivirus. For the example we use the free Dr.WEB Curelt software - download from the official site or here.
- Open the installed program, Dr.WEB will ask you to accept the Terms of Use - agree.
- Click on "Select Items to Scan".
- Click on "Select Files and Folders" as shown in the screenshot.
- There is a search icon and you should wait to have the site checked for viruses.
- If you find a malicious element you should be informed and offered to remove it.
If in some time the viruses appear on your site again, it is worth checking the page code to find the "crack" through which the site is compromised. With Dr.WEB you can scan your whole computer, the process will take a few hours.
Tip: Regularly run a full computer scan with an anti-virus program and follow the recommendations of browser protection extensions. To avoid losing valuable data, it is recommended to copy information to external hard drives and cloud services.