I worry about apps...

[Samantha]

I worry about apps like Topaz. Even though I run it through a couple of virus checkers, I'm still unsure about what I'm actually installing.

Is there any way to increase confidence before I go running random .exe off the internet?

[banzai420]

you could try sandboxing it in a virtual machine. basically partition your hard drive with a separate instance of your OS thats isolated from the rest. that way you can test it out in that environment before bringing it over to your main system. heres a little article on VMwares site.

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1026504#:~:text=Virtual%20machines%20can%20be%20used%20as%20a%20sandbox.&text=%E2%80%93%20then%20the%20virtual%20machine%20will,to%20infect%20your%20host%20machine.

[Frank21]

You could use a portable version run from a thumb drive that needs no installation file executed on your PC. That's my choice over running cracks and the like.
This place has lots of portable apps and downloads are reasonably fast. Disable ad-blocker for the site.

https://www.fcportables.com/software/

[Samantha]

Sandboxing sounds like a pain in the bum but may be the solution here... I just wondered how reliable the virus checkers are (I use Defender and then Malwarebytes to check each download against two different ones). Neith defend against day zero though do they. But if you had a day zero you probably wouldn't waste it on a ZoneGfx uplaod!

I haven't had any issues in the past but there will be that one time...

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