Portable Document Format – PDF is a file format created by Adobe Systems in 1993 for document exchange.In its early stages it was not well accepted or popular. But since 5-6 years it has become a norm on Internet. It is smaller in size in comparison to its word or .doc format. It can contain text, pictures, captions, audio descriptions, XML codes etc. You buy a e-book – its a PDF. You read a free report – a PDF again. And now a days even companies are asking people to send resume in PDF. In my college PDF files are put on our Internal Notice Board to provide us with information regarding all events.

Now that PDF is such a norm and every person is using it. People are reading PDF more than they use any other text editors. Take me for example I have so far read 5 PDF files in last 12 hours and used notepad only once. People want to do little more than just reading PDF files. They may want to protect it with passwords or join two or more files or unlock it.

To accomplish the above jobs I have found some Free Online PDF tools.These tools have a small restriction. They allow a maximum file size or total upload of 10 MB only. Most PDF files you will be using in your daily life will have size less than 10 MB, so you can use these tools without any problem.

PDF Join

Join 2 or more PDF files. You can merge up to 5 files maximum. Just upload the files and click join. The motto is one PDF is better than two.

PDF Protect

Sometime you do not want people to read your PDF. You want the content inside to be secure. The best solution is to password protect it. You just upload you file. Put in and password and select low encryption strength to make the PDF compatible with older readers or use high encryption length for more security.

PDF Unlock

PDF files can have restrictions that prevent you from for example copying text from them or editing, printing or merging them. PDF Unlock! unlocks PDF files and removes these restrictions.

PDF Unlock! does not, however, recover lost passwords or remove a password protection from a PDF file. A PDF file can also be subject to encryption by a third party, such as DRM. PDF Unlock! does not remove such.

I hope you find these tools useful. Do you already use any PDF tools? If you do then share your experience with it. If you need or want any specific type of tool ask me, I will find it.

You have one of the best antivirus software installed on your system. It is the best and has a very high virus detection rate. You think you got a impressive and 100% reliable virus scanner. Wrong! you do not have the best.

Hundreds of new Viruses, Adwares, Spywares, Worms, Trojans etc are being created every day. A Tom-Dick-Harry is building a software everyday. There are new softwares claiming impressive services and features. But can you simply just download these softwares and use them.”HELL NO”. Yes some of you are very cautious and do not download softwares from unreliable sources but many of you does. You rely on you anti virus to warn you if there is any potential threat in the software package you downloaded. But your anti virus may not be able to detect all threats. You just cannot rely on one antivirus scanner.

What is the solution?

Virus Total. Virus Total is a service that analyzes suspicious files and facilitates the quick detection of viruses, worms, Trojans, and all kinds of malware detected by antivirus engines. Virus Total is a online tool/webware by Hispasec Sistemas which uses nearly 41 antivirus engines to scan a file for potential threats. Virus Total uses best antivirus engines like Avast, Antivir, AVG, Bit Defender, CalmAV, Comodo, F-Secure, Kaspersky, McAfee, Microsoft, NOD32, Symantec, TrendMicro etc. With 41 antivirus scanning your file, virtually no threat can hide.

How do you use Virus Total and what are it feature?

As I told you before virus total is a online free virus scanner tool, so you need Internet to use it. You can think of it as another antivirus software program just for virus checking or scanning. You just have to visit their website. Upload the file you want to scan for threats and in few seconds (may take few minutes if file is big) you get a detailed result of the scanned file. If the file you uploaded has been scanned earlier you get result in a instant.

You can see a sample result below. The picture is little big in size, so it may take time to load – please be patience or see the report in Virus Total Website. I uploaded the setup of Alexa Toolbar Version 9.0.0.30. Only one scanner showed it contains Adware. I remember the olden days when most antivirus used to label Alexa as Adware. I think now they have accepted it as no threat.

What more to know?

Virus Total has been awarded by the American edition of PC World Magazine, one of the 100 best products of year 2007 in the Security Web Site category.

If you have doubt about any file. You think it may contains viruses then you jsut upload it to Virus Total and get a scan report. I advise you to check any new software before installing. There is  also availability of SSL on the website so the file you upload are sent through securely.

Virus Total is a very useful tool which can be accessed from anywhere be it your office, home or school. Until you connected to Internet you can use it. How useful do you think this online tool is? How do you plan to use it? Would you recommend it to you friends.