This article is from the Computer viruses FAQ, by David Harley D.Harley@icrf.icnet.uk, George Wenzel gwenzel@telusplanet.net and Bruce Burrell bpb@umich.edu with numerous contributions by others.
Reputable sites like SimTel and Garbo check uploaded utilities for
viruses before making them publicly available. However, it makes
sense not to take anything for granted. I'm aware of at least one
instance of a virus-infected file being found on a SimTel mirror:
you can't scan a newly-uploaded file for a virus your scanner
doesn't know about. Good A/V packages include self-checking code,
though it's unsafe to depend even on this 100%. Be paranoid: you
know it makes sense....
In general, don't run *anything* downloaded from the Internet,
BBSs etc. until it's been checked with at least one reputable
and up-to-date antivirus scanner.
 
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