Check link and file safety right in the browser

Browser extensions are, as the name suggests, programs that extend, add to, and modify the features and functions of our browsers.

Browser extensions are, as the name suggests, programs that extend, add to, and modify the features and functions of our browsers. Today there are tens — if not hundreds — of thousands of them, doing everything from changing colours to hiding ads to scanning downloaded documents and detecting viruses. I'll introduce one such extension today.

The VT4Browsers extension

Has it ever happened that you needed to download some program, the page you were downloading it from didn't look safe, but you needed it right then, so you just downloaded it — and surprise, it was infected? If yes, you're not alone; it's happened to me more than once. The VT4Browsers extension can prevent that. While the file is downloading, the extension scans it through a range of antiviruses and URL scanners and grades whether it's safe or infected. For personal use the extension is completely free. For commercial use you pay, but you also get extra features.

Safety

The extension itself sends the file you're downloading to its servers and inspects it there — that's the most effective approach. But if you're sending sensitive documents around, that's worth keeping in mind. The extension's developers are fully transparent about this, and the data isn't tied to individual users. Worth noting: the extension intentionally doesn't inspect file types like docx, pdf, jpeg, mp4 etc. — those are not shared.

Community

All the files and pages you submit are shared with a community of people who rate how safe they are. They review and comment on pages where the antiviruses weren't sure, or which they rated as safe — so you can be reasonably confident those pages and files are indeed safe.