JottiQ: Desktop program for batch scanning files with Jotti’s malware scan (an online scanner)

We all know about VirusTotal (or at least we all should know about VirusTotal). Jotti’s malware scan is a service similar to VirusTotal; it is a service that allows users to scan files with 18 different anti-virus/anti-malware scanner. Jotti’s malware scan works fairly similar to VirusTotal in the sense that users upload individual files, Jotti’s malware scan scans the file and displays the result. JottiQ is a program that extends the usability of Jotti’s malware scan.

Like VirusTotal, with Jotti’s malware scan users need to upload one file at a time. If anyone wants to scan more than one file at a time, they must manually upload each file one by file. JottiQ was created to make it easy for users to batch scan files with Jotti’s malware scan:

JottiQ has the ability to simultaneously scan two or three files, while the rest of the files users add are queued up and scanned in order. Once files are scanned, JottiQ displays the virus scan results right inside the program window…

…and gives users the option to open the scan results on Jotti’s malware scan’s web page:

The advantage of opening the web page, of course, is that users can link the scan results to other people.

Aside from scanning any files users add, JottiQ has the ability to automatically queue currently running processes:

After clicking the button shown in the above screenshot, currently running processes are added to the scan list automatically and sequentially scanned.

Furthermore

  • To make it easy to scan files, JottiQ has the ability to add an entry in the right-click context menu providing users quick access to JottiQ:

Having this right-click context menu enter is completely optional and users can remove it at anytime.

  • Via JottiQ settings users can control key options such as how many files to scan at the same time (one, two, or three) and adding/removing the previously mentioned context menu entry:

  • Jotti’s malware scan has a 20MB file size limit. JottiQ does not – cannot – circumvent this restriction.

To prevent overloading Jotti’s malware scan server, you may find JottiQ “throttling” uploads/scans. If this happens to you, there is no need to worry or panic; that just means you need to wait until Jotti’s malware scan servers are not so overloaded. You actually don’t even have to do anything except wait because JottiQ will automatically upload/scan “throttled” files using Jotti’s malware scan when the server allows for it. In fact once you add a file into JottiQ, you don’t need to worry about it; JottiQ makes sure all queued files are scanned… eventually.

Another way JottiQ prevents overloading Jotti’s malware scan servers is before it uploads a file to be scanned, it conducts a MD5 hash of the file and compares it to the MD5 hash of programs already scanned by Jotti’s malware scan. If the MD5 hashes match, that means the file has already been scanned using Jotti’s malware scan and instead of uploading and rescanning the file, the previous scan results are shown.

The following is a short 4 minute video – created by our friends at DonationCoder since JottiQ is part of their NANY 2011 event – demonstrating JottiQ in action:

To conclude, while JottiQ is in no way a replacement for your anti-malware security software, JottiQ is a very useful program. I hope such a program is created for VirusTotal. You can grab JottiQ From the following links:

Version reviewed: v1.0.2 Build 22338

Supported OS: Windows XP and higher

Requires .NET Framework 4.0 Client Profile and Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package. If you don’t have any of these two installed, you will be prompted to download and install them during JottiQ’s installation.

Download size: 1.1 MB but .NET Framework 4.0 Client Profile and the C++ package are extra, if you don’t have them already

JottiQ homepage

[Direct download v1.0.2 – installer]

[Direct download v1.0.2 – portable .7z archive version]

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