There might be times when your desktop antivirus has turned a zombie, rendered practically useless by some trojan or a virus. The possibility of such a thing happening is very rare, but still having an option to cross check is always good. An online virus scanner should never be considered a substitute for an installed antivirus scanner. But if you suspect your installed desktop antivirus is missing a threat or you simply want a second opinion, an online scanner can be a valuable adjunct to security. The list below introduces some of the best online antivirus services and is in no particular order.
Bitdefender Quick Scan
Probably you had already know about Bitdefender. Bitdfender is a leading computer security vendor. Bitdefender Quick Scan is a free online virus scanning service which incorporates in-the-cloud scanning technology to detect malwares. It scans your PC very fast usually in less than 60 seconds.
As most of the process will be done on remote Bitdefender servers, it will not slow down your system. Browser extensions are also available for this. Bitdefender servers are always updated with latest virus definitions, so are assured for malware detection.
Metascan Online
Previously known as Filterbit, Metascan Online supports 42 antivirus engines with a maximum 50MB file size. You can only upload the file from their website and when the scan has been completed, you’ll get a nice badge (which can be easily manipulated by editing the URL of the image) to embed it to your website. Not many features are found in Metascan Online but overall the speed of scanning is quite fast.
Virustotal
Not only it scan the file, also helps you to scan the url and let you know that the URL is safe fro the browsing or not. From the web uploader you can uploads file upto 32MB to scan and to scan the web URL all you have to enter the URL in the box and it will scan the link and give you the results that the web URL is safe or not.
IObit cloud
IObit cloud is yet another online service which allows you to scan files by uploading them. IOBit Cloud uses latest cloud computing technology and Heuristic Analyzing mechanic to analyze the behaviour of spyware, adware, trojans, keyloggers, bots, worms, hijackers and other security-related risks in a fully automated mode.
Trend Micro’s Housecall is one of the few tools in our Top 10 Online Scanners to offer cleaning or deleting of infected files. If you are being attacked by popular viruses, than you need to scan your PC with Trend Micro Housecall. This scanner easily finds and kills popular viruses. But on the other hand, rare viruses usually aren’t found by this scanner and Trojan horses escape too. Updates and detection are not quite as reliable as the Kaspersky options above. Select Housecall only if cleaning or deletion is desired.
ESET Online Scanner
ESET has a free online scanner that only runs in Internet Explorer. Other web browsers such as Firefox or Chrome will require you to download and run a standalone program called ESET Smart Installer. Unlike Bitdefender’s QuickScan, ESET Online Scanner downloads the virus signature database to your computer which means the scanning and analysis is performed locally on your computer.
ESET Online Scanner allows you to configure the scan settings such as enabling the detection of potentially unwanted applications (PUP), scan archives, scan for potentially unsafe applications, anti-stealth technology, and even selecting the location that you would like to scan