How to validate a large torrented file is clean? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) by Yourname942@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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How do you validate that what you torrented is clean/no malware/spyware? Specifically, I torrented two things:

Astute Graphics Plug-ins Elite Bundle 3.9.1.7z from teamos. *It is 678MB so I can't upload to Virustotal
Master Collection 2025 from uztracker (which is listed on monkrus's website's list of trackers). It is 37.5GB so I can't upload to Virustotal.

I'm not sure what I should to do to be honest.

Edit: Would splitting the 37.5GB file into 650MB pieces and then scanning with virustotal help? Not sure if downloaded files need to be whole for it to work properly.

This is the results from virustotal (I could only scan 4 files in the master collection without running the iso)

Thank you.

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[-] pirateKaiser@sh.itjust.works 5 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

If you find torrenting and running a VM too technical, I'm sorry to say you're better off not trying to identify and remove any malicious code.

Don't put yourself down and waste your money, you can get over the learning curve for this, it's not that steep.

To elaborate, as the previous reply stated, running the cracked programs inside a virtual machine allows you to isolate an environment specifically for this usage. Configured properly (another reply went into more detail here), even if the cracked software has something malicious, it can't harm you. So you can safely ignore wether there's a virus or not.

[-] Yourname942@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 18 hours ago

Thank you for the info, and for the encouragement. Yeah I am definitely going to try using a VM to diagnose the files more closely. To confirm, is a VM, (such as Hyper-V) similar to Windows Sandbox, where it effectively resets itself (new slate) each time you open it? Or can I install the torrented files in the VM and still access it if I close and reopen the VM in the future?

Also, which VM would you suggest? I apologize for appending so many questions to my original post.