Best Resource For Identifying Legit Applications?

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?"

Comments

Re:Assume malware

[tepples]

If you've never heard of an application, assume that it's untrusted malware.

Then how should a micro-ISV or a free software developer earn users' trust?

How important is this person to you?

[pz]

If this person is important to you (ie, a relative, family friend), then set up a CD-R with A/V and malware detection on it such that it autoruns, and mail them a new, fresh copy once per month that includes the latest A/V definitions. Hell, include a defrag as part of the autorun process. What does this person do for updates to Windows? I'm betting nothing. Include those too.

90% of maintaining my computer semi-literate parents' and relatives' computers is basically this: (1) update antivirus, (2) run A/V, (3) update Windows, (4) defrag.