Repeat after me, don't download warez from Youtube videos. Don't download warez from Youtube videos. Avoid blogs and channels offering cracked software. If for whatever reason you still want to do so, follow the internet's golden rule: trust your gut. In the end, if you want to stay safe then the best possible thing you can do is to not use cracks or keygens at all. Online scanners such as VirusTotal and heuristics can sometimes give you an idea if what you're using is good or not but most times they're misleading. There is still a (smaller) risk of infecting your main computer when transferring files with USB devices from the dummy PC.Īs said, there's no real answer other than getting your hands dirty with a lengthy and difficult analysis of the executable and/or watching its behaivor in a contained environment. Create a backup image for the case some malware infects the system and makes it unusable. Second best idea: Use a permanently offline secondary computer.

This only adds to the uncertainty and is – in my opinion – a try to discourage people from using “pirating tools”. You get heuristic hits often (“heu-”, “gen-”, “generic-” in the name). On the other side: Many scanners treat keygens/cracks… cross-the-board as malicious.

Automated software can’t reliably detect unknown malware.

It may wait for X minutes/hours/days or only start if certain condition(s) is/are met.

Running the file on a test computer → You may not see the malicious behavior at first.

Simply running the file on a VM → (unlikely for malware in the wild, but possible) Malware might infect the host system with a VM-escape exploit.

Simply running the file on a virtual machine → Malware may behave innocent.

The attribute “trusted” for a site that distributes illegal copies sounds a bit odd. Besides… cracking the malware scanner on your system is not very smart in my opinion. Other than a real malware analysis, which only an expert can do, there is no fully reliable method of telling if a file is malicious.

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