Battle of the 6 Online Malware File Scanners

Recently I discovered two more website which offers FREE online virus scan service that checks uploaded files for malware using multiple antivirus engines. It is VirusChief and FilterBit. Previously I’ve already mentioned 4 such similar sites which isVirusTotal, Jotti’s Malware Scanner, VirSCAN, Virus.org Malware Scanner.

Since I already have 6 on the list, I thought it’d be great to make a comparison between these 6 websites to see which offers the best features. I will compare the number of antivirus engines used to scan an uploaded file, time taken to upload and scan, extra file upload methods, file information, upload progress meter and report page. I will also test the accuracy of the antivirus engines by scanning it with a detected vers

ion of Bifrost trojan.

1. VirusTotal

Antivirus Engines: 32
Max Upload Size: Web (20MB), Email (10MB), Windows Context Menu Upload (10MB)
Upload Method: Web + SSL, Email Attachment, Windows Context Menu
Upload Progress Meter: YES
File Information: File Size, MD5, SHA1, SHA256, SHA512, Packer
Provides Report Page: YES
Detection Rate: 32/32 (100%)
Time Taken to Upload and Scan 200KB File: 37 secs

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2. VirSCAN

Antivirus Engines: 36
Max Upload Size: 10MB
Upload Method: Web
Upload Progress Meter: YES
File Information: File Size, MD5, SHA1
Provides Report Page: YES
Detection Rate: 33/36 (92%) Panda, Quick Heal and Trend Micro did not detect Bifrost Trojan
Time Taken to Upload and Scan 200KB File: 4 mins 20 secs

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3. Jotti’s Scanner

Antivirus Engines: 20
Max Upload Size: 10MB
Upload Method: Web
Upload Progress Meter: NO
File Information: File Size, Packer
Provides Report Page: NO
Detection Rate: 20/20 (100%)
Time Taken to Upload and Scan 200KB File: 1 min 15 secs

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3. Virus.Org

Antivirus Engines: 21
Max Upload Size: 5MB
Upload Method: Web
Upload Progress Meter: NO
File Information: File Size, SHA1, Packer
Provides Report Page: YES
Detection Rate: 20/21 (95%) Quick Heal did not detect Bifrost Trojan
Time Taken to Upload and Scan 200KB File: 2 mins 45 secs

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4. VirusChief

Antivirus Engines: 10
Max Upload Size: 10MB
Upload Method: Web
Upload Progress Meter: NO
File Information: File Size, MD5
Provides Report Page: YES
Detection Rate: 10/10 (100%)
Time Taken to Upload and Scan 200KB File: 1 min 10 sec

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5. FilterBit

Antivirus Engines: 6
Max Upload Size: 20MB
Upload Method: Web
Upload Progress Meter: YES
File Information: File Size, MD5, SHA1
Provides Report Page: YES
Detection Rate: 5/6 (83%) ClamAV did not detect Bifrost Trojan
Time Taken to Upload and Scan 200KB File: 21 secs

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All 6 online file scanner websites don’t require Java or ActiveX. From the test, VirusTotal is clearly the winner because it surpasses other websites in every part of the test! It is able to archive 100% detection rate for Bifrost trojan with 32 antivirus engine in the fastest time. VirSCAN easily taken the second place because of the features and also amount of antivirus engines. However, the only thing I don’t like about it is the slowness in uploading and scanning which I could live with it.

Jotti’s Malware Scanner with Virus.Org is a very very close one. I could not decide which would be better so I would say that it is a draw. Jotti archived 100% in detection rate, supports 10MB upload, and fast scanning time. It would be better than Virus.Org if it has report page.