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Best Resource For Identifying Legit Applications?

Posted by kdawson on from the x-ray-goggles dept.

bjb writes "While helping a somewhat computer illiterate person figure out a problem recently, they mentioned that PDF files had recently stopped working. Upon investigation I found something installed called 'PDF Suite.' Never having heard of it, I Googled it with 'malware' and other key words, but nothing turned up, though my suspicion remained (and was somewhat confirmed by WOT.) So my question is, where can you go to find out if something is legitimate? Because the person I'm helping is on a dial-up connection, downloading malware detection applications (and updates) is too heavy consider. And I don't maintain a USB stick with such apps, since I don't do this kind of thing very often. Where can you quickly find information?"

4 of 255 comments (clear)

  1. download.com by martas · · Score: 3, Informative

    and many other software download sites [claim to] thoroughly test submitted applications with antiviruses. in recent times i haven't downloaded any app from them that turned out to contain any sort of malware.

    --
    weinersmith
    1. Re:download.com by Cylix · · Score: 3, Informative

      Uninstall them all and let God sort em out.

      When I was ever called to sort some disaster of a mind fucked mess I wouldn't take prisoners. Usually, my first question was could I just re-image and generally this was a resounding no.

      When you can't re-image you can only do the next best thing with next best thing results. Remove, scan and move on.

      It's more like war time triage then anything else.

      Sure, I feel somewhat bad they made it in the mess they did, but I can only personally do so much.

      --
      "You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
  2. Er by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 5, Informative

    Did you try Googling it *without* the word malware?

    http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=%22PDF+Suite%22&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&fp=1

  3. beware! by TheSHAD0W · · Score: 5, Informative

    BitTornado, an application I administer, was once available via ZDNet, a site which distributed freeware and shareware apps much like Download.com. At some point someone began offering download mirrors for BitTornado and other apps, with installers that were modified and apparently contaminated with malware. I complained twice; the second time, they nastily asked whether I wanted them to remove BitTornado from their site. I told them yes.

    Just because software is available via some popular gateway, you can't be 100% certain what you download will be perfect and free from malware.