hi if you are a downloadaholic for every new device,tool, cleaner or time saving gizmo then please follow this tip it will save you hours of rebooting and restoring your system, in my documents make a new folder call this "saved files" make a shortcut to desktop for instant checking, now every time you down load something dont open it save it to your new folder "saved files", when the download as finished open the folder with left click now click on " file " in the left corner from the drop down list click "scan with", i have avg8 which starts a shell scan, the whole thing only takes seconds but can save your bacon on the odd occasion. cheers finbar

Thanks for the info.

More items to "scan with" from the drop down list:

- AVE Anti-Spyware

- Super Anti-Spyware

- Bit Defender v10

- NOD 32 ( An ACTIVE VIRUS PROTECTION) - Remember, only ONE one your system

- AVG 7.5 (Another ACTIVE VIRUS PROTECTION)

- a-squared

- MalewareBytes' Anti-Malware

All free.....

You can download all these Anti-Malware programs but you do NOT have to have them ACTIVE. They all make for good "stand alone" scanners and right click (context menu) scans of individual folders/files...ect.

I have made it a practice to download and save the file before running it.
My Vista automatically scans the file, when I choose the option of saving it after download.

http://www.virustotal.com/metodos.html
I installed and used this today. Worked as advertised. Instead of just scanning a file with one or two antimalware programs, Virus Total scans with multiple programs.
VirusTotal - Free Online Virus and Malware Scan - Email/Uploader
VirusTotal Uploader

Virus Total Uploader (Windows, 80KB, MD5: e75ba68126f3839219949f9bd20e2dab) enables you to directly send files from your system using the context menu.
Once installed, just right click on the file you want scanned, select "send to" and then click on Virus Total.
SAMPLE REPORT



File DeepBurner1.exe received on 08.06.2008 21:32:15 (CET)
Current status: finished
Result: 2/35 (5.71%)
Compact Compact
Print results Print results
Antivirus Version Last Update Result
AhnLab-V3 2008.8.7.0 2008.08.06 -
AntiVir 7.8.1.15 2008.08.06 -
Authentium 5.1.0.4 2008.08.05 -
Avast 4.8.1195.0 2008.08.06 -
AVG 8.0.0.156 2008.08.06 -
BitDefender 7.2 2008.08.06 -
CAT-QuickHeal 9.50 2008.08.06 -
ClamAV 0.93.1 2008.08.06 -
DrWeb 4.44.0.09170 2008.08.06 -
eSafe 7.0.17.0 2008.08.06 Suspicious File
eTrust-Vet 31.6.6015 2008.08.06 -
Ewido 4.0 2008.08.06 -
F-Prot 4.4.4.56 2008.08.05 -
Fortinet 3.14.0.0 2008.08.06 -
GData 2.0.7306.1023 2008.08.06 -
Ikarus T3.1.1.34.0 2008.08.06 -
K7AntiVirus 7.10.405 2008.08.06 -
Kaspersky 7.0.0.125 2008.08.06 -
McAfee 5355 2008.08.06 -
Microsoft 1.3807 2008.08.06 -
NOD32v2 3333 2008.08.06 -
Norman 5.80.02 2008.08.06 -
Panda 9.0.0.4 2008.08.06 -
PCTools 4.4.2.0 2008.08.06 -
Prevx1 V2 2008.08.06 Suspicious
Rising 20.56.22.00 2008.08.06 -
Sophos 4.31.0 2008.08.06 -
Sunbelt 3.1.1537.1 2008.08.06 -
Symantec 10 2008.08.06 -
TheHacker 6.2.96.393 2008.08.04 -
TrendMicro 8.700.0.1004 2008.08.06 -
VBA32 3.12.8.2 2008.08.05 -
ViRobot 2008.8.6.1326 2008.08.06 -
VirusBuster 4.5.11.0 2008.08.06 -
Webwasher-Gateway 6.6.2 2008.08.06 -

Have you seen the warnings by Internet fraud watch that downloading certain programs on their computers for entertainment may cost them hundreds of dollars in unexpected telephone charges. That's because some programs are designed to disconnect the computer from the consumer's regular Internet service and reconnect it directly to the entertainment provider by dialing a phone number in Africa or in another country.

Its always better to be careful before downloading every other available thing on net.