BleepingComputer.com: Virus Scan Questions

A webmaster I've been dealing with about an allegedly virus-laden file claims that many online malware scan sites are invalid for scanning Win XP/SP3 files because the sites use Linux versions of A-V engines; i.e., it's necessary to use a Windows-specific program for a valid scan. Two examples online that use 20 to 30 well-known and lesser-known A-V engines to scan files are http://virusscan.jotti.org/ and http://www.virustotal.com. Is there any truth to the webmaster's claim? Thanks.

From Jotti's main page:

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Jotti Malware Scan

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List of Online Malware Scanners

About VirusTotal

These and similar sites are essentially used to check for malware in a file you upload. Most of the major anti-virus vendors participate in VirusTotal, Jotti's, and UploadMalware.com with their antivirus engines. Malware uploaded to these sites is distributed to antivirus vendors. The samples can be analysed by automatic tools and security analysts to detect malicious code and to improve anti-virus engines.

From what I read, both the Linux and Windows scan engines have approximately the same capabilities but they scan for different malware patterns and there can be some differences in the results. Sites such as BC which help members with malware removal use both Jotti and VirusTotal and the majority of folks use Windows.