How to Find Out Which EXE Files are Safe

By Luke

Malicious software developers are becoming more tactical in disguising the identity of a virus, they do this by hiding them and naming them with something unsuspecting and crafty. You can’t really determine if a file on your system is safe to run by their file name by checking the processes in your task manager, and this doesn’t get easier as very ‘safe’ applications like antivirus programs name their processes very appropriately as well (avp.exe for example with Kaspersky).

While you could follow ‘ignorance is bliss’ as your motto and leave the EXE’s as they are it won’t be very ‘blissful’ if you are eventually forced to format your computer because of these ‘apparently safe’ EXE files.

If you are paranoid cautious about these issues however you could do a bit of research and figure which of your EXE files are safe and which are potentially dangerous. EXEDB.com (user-powered I’m guessing as they have an ‘add new file’ feature) is a useful website that contains an entire database of EXE files with their function as well as details on how dangerous they are.

They also have a (Windows only) utility that scans the EXE files on your system for files flagged as malicious in their database.

Visit EXEDB.com

Download the Exe File Information Application (freeware)

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About The Author

Luke is a Software Developer and the main writer behind Computer Realm.

2 Comments so far

The Effortless Way of Speeding up Your PC Speed by Following 5 Steps | Web & online Software Development August 24, 2009 5:35 pm

[...] How to Find Out Which EXE Files are Safe (computer-realm.net) [...]
Mohan Arun L September 28, 2009 11:47 am

If you suspect an executable file, then just upload it to VirusTotal or other similar site to have online scan done.
.-= Mohan Arun L´s last blog ..24-Sep-2009 =-.

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