Golgotha of the Hills Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 Noob question here. Does anyone have advice/tips on how to make sure Whatever Rom I'm downloading is safe? (Virus/malware free) Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirb1337 Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 If the file being downloaded is a 8-16 mbs gba file, then you're sure it's the rom and its safe. If it's a .zip, then make sure that the file inside is the gba rom before unzipping, and there's no shady exe. If the file being downloaded is an exe, you should probably delete it, It'll either be a shady installer that will install other programs without telling you, or just a plain virus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonLord Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 (edited) I don't exactly know if this kind of discussion is allowed, but the file extension should be a giveaway generally. Edited January 6, 2018 by DragonLord Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirb1337 Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 Just now, DragonLord said: I don't exactly know if this kind of discussion is allowed. As long as we don't give out links/site names for downloading roms, it's cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golgotha of the Hills Posted January 6, 2018 Author Share Posted January 6, 2018 Thanks for responding so quickly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragoncat Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 (edited) One thing to know is that Nintendo has taken down a lot of roms like Pokemon ones, so if you find one, you might download it, but the file might be blocked. So search for whatever rom you want with "unblocked" at the end of it. Also make sure it's a gba file like Kirb said. Edited January 6, 2018 by eclipse That's getting into weird territory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 Talk about toeing the line, guys. Anyway, you're kind of on your own, TC. "Safest" way IMO would be to have a dedicated computer to play ROMs on, with said computer having no network card to speak of. But that's not realistic for most people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragoncat Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 Sorry Eclipse! Thanks for not actually giving me an infraction though, I appreciate it. Anyway. If someone has a dedicated rom computer without a network card, wouldn't it still get the virus if the "rom" was a virus installer? I mean, yeah, the average virus works by getting online stuff, but it can still probably do some things if you're offline, could'nt it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 6 minutes ago, Dragoncat said: Sorry Eclipse! Thanks for not actually giving me an infraction though, I appreciate it. Anyway. If someone has a dedicated rom computer without a network card, wouldn't it still get the virus if the "rom" was a virus installer? I mean, yeah, the average virus works by getting online stuff, but it can still probably do some things if you're offline, could'nt it? It'll stop whatever needs to phone home for instructions. It's not a perfect solution (the ideal one would be "don't download ROMs", but finding legit copies of old games can be challenging and pricey), but it's better than running an unknown binary on a computer that has a bunch of personal things on it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirb1337 Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 3 hours ago, eclipse said: (the ideal one would be "don't download ROMs", but finding legit copies of old games can be challenging and pricey) Not only that, but you'd also need a rom dumper if you wanted to play on an emulator/hack your game, and that'd also mean your dumped rom would be different to the one you used to make your hack, which would make patching difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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