I feel so stupid! How do I know if a file has a virus or not before downloading?

[toshapetriji]

I seem to download files that avg tells me contain virus's. I know its a dangerous world out there but is there some way to determine likely infected files before downloading? I feel a complete fool but computing and p2p is new to me.

[Only A Hobo]

Have a look at the stickies above the forums .. This is one

http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...threadid=43811

or

http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...threadid=41432

I hope these help

[liquidphorm]

When you are looking for a particular type of file e.g. mpg or mp3, have a look at the size of the file. If it's a song then it should be over 3mb or if it's a music vid it should be over 30mb. The deadset clue that it's not is if it's around 814kb because thats around the standard size of a malware download. Use the bitzi web lookup everytime to see if someone has been burnt before. Just right click on the download then select advanced then bitzi and you will see if it is a common virus or whatever. I hope this helps dude!

[canadaXD]

anything over 1 mb is around safea but 1mb songs 2 mb songs are gennerally shorter songs and if you know its short its good.... i suggest avast! with avg as it has a media scanner if too many appear.... also get ewido and a squared malware scanners that are very effective to scan your files..