this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2025
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Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

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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.

Thank you.

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[–] pirateKaiser@sh.itjust.works 2 points 17 minutes ago

Run it inside a VM? If you're suspicious or just worried, this would resolve most if not all of possible worries you may have.

[–] dastanktal@hexbear.net 2 points 58 minutes ago

Just run the file against clamav, and you should be able to tell whether or not it's got issues. That's generally what's done in commercial spaces.

[–] MantisToboggon@lazysoci.al 10 points 2 hours ago (1 children)
[–] DemBoSain@midwest.social 5 points 1 hour ago

You again? GET OUT OF MY CAR!

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 9 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Validate the checksum against the official sources.

[–] Yourname942@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Wouldn't it be different since non-official versions are cracked? I'm also not really sure how I would even do so for that plugin since it is a subscription, nor how to do so for the master collection, because it technically does not exist officially.

[–] scoobford@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

AFAIK, you don't. You might be able to validate the actual software package's hash against official sources, but the crack won't validate because it's different from the unedited files.

That's why picking a site and uploader you know is important. You're kind of just hoping for the best.

[–] Yourname942@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

I mean, is it safe to assume that the torrent from megathread > monkrus > uztracker is safe? I've read that you either go genp or monkrus for less chance of malware.

Alternatively, do you think splitting the 37.5GB file into 650MB pieces and then scanning with virustotal would do much good?

[–] scoobford@lemmy.zip 1 points 44 minutes ago

M0nkrus is probably safe, that's why people recommend them so frequently.

I lack the technical knowledge to say whether splitting the file to scan would work or not, but I suspect not.

[–] rulray@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

What about installing some antivirus than can scan on demand?

I don't know how's the "market" right now, but a few years ago Malwarebytes was good for Windows, and ClamAV in Linux