How do sites like softpedia verify that software is malware-free?

Softpedia claims to test software and give a nice 100%clean badge. Link!

I would like to do the same on other software. But how ? I believe they do something more than just running an anti-virus . Can someone make a guess of what they would be doing to give a 100% clean badge to software ?

ty

 

I believe they test each software manually to watch for malicious behavior and with several scanners. I do not know what scanners though.

 

i think they upload files to virustotal.

 

They try to do their best (Like scan and check).
But remember nothing is bullet proof

 

Softpedia is one of the safest download sites because they try their best to check programs for malware.
You can even report malware on each program listed.
However you can still find many rogue and crap programs listed on Softpedia.
Although they are malware free some are fake scanners, fake system optimizers, fake registry cleaners, etc. that will scan for free but won't do anything else until you buy them when they are listed as freeware.

Some of these rogue programs will even redirect to malicious sites, but the programs themselves are clean of malware.

So what I have discovered, Softpedia only check the programs in general, not the programs actions or their websites to see if they are infected.

Thanks.

 

with which softwares ? any guesses ?

 

You can contact Softpedia and ask them- http://www.softpedia.com/user/feedback.shtml or email them webmaster@softpedia.com.

I will also contact them, if you get a reply let us know please.

Thanks.

 

Indeed, an email would have been a better solution, but since I'm already here... I'll shed some light on the matter...
The program is downloaded and checked for malware, both with scanners/software already present on the workstation and remote/online scanners (If results contain what seem to be false positives, the app is rejected and the developer is notified). In other words, we use a wide array of programs, from "harcore" antimalware (like ESET) to "unconventional" tools (like Winpatrol).
Each program with an award (clean or free) is installed and tested by our staff (and, in most cases, the screenshots should prove that).
If the program is not in English, if it doesn't work right/at all, the submission is rejected and we email our reasons to the developer.
If the program is a rip-off/scam/scareware/rogue, it will not go online. In some cases a few may slip through our fingers, but we do remove them as soon as we find the proof we need.
Anyway, as I was saying, the app is tested on a machine running several security products. If it doesn't raise any alerts and, of course, if its basic functionality works flawlessly, the app goes online.
There are a lot of adware/ad-supported apps out there, so I should mention that if we discover during our testing process that a program falls under this category, it will get published, but it will not receive an award and, whether it's advertised as freeware or shareware, we will only list it as ad-supported.
We do not publish software raising serious virus alerts and we do not publish apps that force users to install unnecessary third-party apps. If you find such a program on Softpedia, please report it, we’ll investigate asap and remove it, if necessary.
I hope this helped Feel free to contact me for more info

PS: This is the way WE test apps. Our competitors surely have other standards.