How do you actually check if a tool is safe before running it?

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restlex

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Grabbed a copy of a tool I really needed from a friend and now i'm second-guessing myself before I actually run it... read many stories about free tools shipping with stealers or worse into the installer, even in ones that look totally legit and working
What should I check? full offline VM, just a VirusTotal check and hope for the best, watch what it's doing on first launch? Genuinely asking because I don't think I've been careful enough about this and want to know what red flags people have actually run into.
 
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restlex said:
Grabbed a copy of a tool I really needed from a friend and now i'm second-guessing myself before I actually run it... read many stories about free tools shipping with stealers or worse into the installer, even in ones that look totally legit and working
What should I check? full offline VM, just a VirusTotal check and hope for the best, watch what it's doing on first launch? Genuinely asking because I don't think I've been careful enough about this and want to know what red flags people have actually run into.
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BTD I tell ya, sometimes VM's seem like anal prolgnitol torture but it just might save yer @ss what kinda sneaky tricks do the tools employ to evade capture by the VM?
 
restlex said:
full offline VM, just a VirusTotal check and hope for the best, watch what it's doing on first launch?
Click to expand...

All of these, even if VT doesn't flag it I would still run it in a VM for the first time to be sure. Also read about the tool online in case there are any discussions, and research it with AI / upload the file and ask the LLM to analyze it. I am always paranoid about free tools unless they are well known and reputable
 
If you are not completely confident about where the tool came from, avoid running it on your main PC. Scan it with VirusTotal first, check the file hash if one is available, and test it in a virtual machine while keeping an eye on its network and system activity. If you notice anything unusual, it's better to skip using it.
 
rob5 said:
All of these, even if VT doesn't flag it I would still run it in a VM for the first time to be sure. Also read about the tool online in case there are any discussions, and research it with AI / upload the file and ask the LLM to analyze it. I am always paranoid about free tools unless they are well known and reputable
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I feel you there bro! VT is never enough even your known nice tools have bh additions and it only takes time that you will know about their tricks i like the way you using ai to analize the file....does type of llm has a effect or any good ones for this?
 
Yeah, better safe than sorry is my mindset for these kinds of things. I'm not sure which llm is best suited for this type of work but I have usually just used the latest claude and chatgpt models
 
restlex said:
Grabbed a copy of a tool I really needed from a friend and now i'm second-guessing myself before I actually run it... read many stories about free tools shipping with stealers or worse into the installer, even in ones that look totally legit and working
What should I check? full offline VM, just a VirusTotal check and hope for the best, watch what it's doing on first launch? Genuinely asking because I don't think I've been careful enough about this and want to know what red flags people have actually run into.
Click to expand...
Never rely solely on VirusTotal as crypters easily bypass static detection, the gold standard is testing it inside an isolated VM or online sandbox like AnyRun to inspect hidden network traffic and malicious processes, and delete it immediately if it requests to disable your antivirus or contacts suspicious IPs.
 
i feels ya there m8 )*good ol paranoia alwasy save the day!, it is nice peoples share expereinces so far.., do u tink tis hapens bcoz moi developezr dnt btord to chekcitz?!
 
If you're using Avast, just right click on software that you want to run and select Run in Sandbox.
 
valac1993 said:
If you're using Avast, just right click on software that you want to run and select Run in Sandbox.
Click to expand...
Idk Sometimes is just sooo pissing me off that devs don't even bother checking thier goddamn cchave u come across such situation where thay add yet not bothered to see how its work!?
 
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