FreeFileSync scam

Ah! I see where you went wrong there. Should be using Linux. Or BSD.

Does virustotal give an MD5/SHA1 so you can tell if the version it previously checked is the same as the one you have?

Only for the one you upload yourself.

The URL doesn't even say how big the file is.

I regard these failings as very big flaws.

I have a suspicion you might be expecting rather more from the site than its intended to deliver....

If you upload a file, it will indeed scan the file for malicious content.

If you scan a URL however it will scan the site/page for malicious web based content - i.e. attempting drive by downloads, serving malicious javascript etc.

It seeems unlikely its going to follow every link on a page, then download every binary linked, scan every one, and and then report back.

On a site listing thousands (millions) of links that would require a ridiculous amount of bandwidth.

The free version contains OpenCandy, which many antivirus flag as malware.

I'm very aware of that, but it is sharp practice to supply to VirusTotal a version of the installer that doesn't have OpenCandy, when the version you download has.

It's also a shortcoming of VirusTotal not to think a disreputable player would circumvent their tests.

I've never heard of it, perhaps it is itself a scam? I notice looking in the registry huge numbers of server addresses in the malicious software removal tool list, which seems to be ever growing. I do wonder sometimes if anyone is policing the web at all for con artists. Brian

Before putting Linux on my system, I used Dsynchronize

Standalone, no installation. Did everything I wanted without problem. Haven't yet found anything like it for Linux :(

Rsync. I enter commands in a script file, and run that with cron.

If you want things invisibly sync'd and backed up without that palaver - use a synched folder from dropbox, google, owncloud etc....

Thanks. Installed, had a rummage. Way too many command line options for my needs.

so write a script with multiple lines like

rsync -avx --delete --one-file-system /home /backup Backup (verbose, archive, don't imnclude other mounted volumes and remove files from backup which have been deleted in the master the directory tree starting at /home and place the result in the directory /backup/home )

Really thats all you need to do. Crib. Check result. If not what you want delve into manual or online and ajust the crib.

Power to do what you want and only what you want comes at the price of knowing what you want and taking the trouble to learn how to give the instructions that will make it happen.,

Or simply be content with what microsoft/apple/google decided that they think you want, and pay for it.

If you have the opportunity to install (oh, you don't need to install it) DSynchronize on a windows system, give it a whirl. No fee. No fuss. Can run as a service to do real-time synchronisation.

IME, it's more likely to be basing its decision on the user agent supplied by virustotal. You could find that out by asking virustotal to scan something on a webserver you control, and then looking in the logs.

Quite a few sites behave differently to certain user agents. Google's web spidering bot is often treated differently.

IME FreeFileSync itself is clean (GPL, source available etc) but is monetised with Open Candy offering to install unwanted (but generally not too evil) 'extras'. Malware detection products differ on whether they regard OC as a reportable threat.

It can be controlled safely *providing you pay attention*. Read all the screens before clicking yes - if you accept the GPL but unclick the box saying 'agree to install this unwanted extra cr*p' nothing undesirable will be installed.

Other than that, you can make a donation to get a clean installer - or build it afresh from source :-)

OC is quite widely used but it is easy to avoid its 'offers' if you are awake/careful - thus far.

ChrisK

The obvious simple workaround is to only use Virus Total to examine files that you've downloaded. Just pretend they don't offer to scan URLs.

Never heard of Virus Total? It's a legitimate (and useful) service that has been running for quite a few years now.

"peddling"

Many programs have many options that many users will never use - read the manpage, find the relevant switches, write the command in a text file so you can run it without taking the time to check it all again. Either run that as a script or just use it to jog your memory if you need some variation in the arguments.