Serious Issue: How to know if a website is safe?

I'm sorry to be creating a thread as I know this community is really busy, but I tried searching and I didn't know what else to do.

I just want to know how I can check if this website is safe to download from.

I want to download this app, but I don't know how I can verify if it's safe or not. Link: GIMPS - Free Prime95 software downloads - PrimeNet

Thank you for any help!

Hello and welcome:

This is the link in your post:

Code:

http://www.mersenne.org/download/#download

According to Virustotal, the site is clean:


HOWEVER:This is NOT a 100% guarantee of safety for the site or its content.

Moreover, I think the "official" download site for GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), if that is the software you're looking for, is here:

Code:

https://www.gimp.org/

I would be wary of downloading it from a 3rd-party source.

HTH,
MM

Thanks so much for your reply!

I just checked and "GIMP" and "GIMPS" are two different things. "GIMPS" stands for 'Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search'.

Hi:

Thanks for the clarification.
I've never heard of "GIMPS".
The VT scan of the site is clean, but I would be wary.
A 3rd-party site offering "free" software may end up delivering any manner of unwanted "free" gifts...
In general, the safest place to download software is the software publisher's own site, not a 3rd-party hosting site.

Cheers,
MM

Thanks!

It seems that "GIMPS" is the company that makes Prime95?

Could be.
I presume you're talking about the CPU stress tester?

The site and the software could be perfectly safe. I have no personal familiarity with either. But, as previously mentioned, the VT analysis of the site you provided was clean.

We'll need to wait for someone more facile with Prime95 and CPU overclocking to weigh in.

Cheers,
MM

Hi.
Yes, this is the official site:
GIMPS - Free Prime95 software downloads - PrimeNet
.

Thanks!

So there is no risk for me to download this file and install it on my Windows 10 PC? Link:

Hi.
Yes, this is the official site:
GIMPS - Free Prime95 software downloads - PrimeNet
.

Much obliged, @simrick.
(I confess to having mistaken "GIMPS" for "GIMP" -- that led me down my own garden path.)

Cheers,
MM

Thanks!

So there is no risk for me to download this file and install it on my Windows 10 PC? Link:

hmmm....forum always shortens these things so you can't read every character....this will work:

Code:

http://www.mersenne.org/ftp_root/gimps/p95v289.win64.zip

Yes. Always scan anything you download before opening/running it. There's always the remote chance it could pick up something when hopping. Unfortunately, I don't see any hashes to compare, although that may be in the zip now, and once extracted you'll have that to double-check file integrity. They did not have hashes in the zip when I downloaded it last year - maybe they've change that, I don't know.

Much obliged, @simrick.
(I confess to having mistaken "GIMPS" for "GIMP" -- that led me down my own garden path.)

Cheers,
MM

Cheers MM! Happy to help. Thanks for the rep and g'night.