Winja

With security being one of the main concerns of all computer users, it's no wonder that there are more and more apps that try to complement the actions of antivirus solutions. Once example is Winja, a malware scanner that comes with a few additional tools to help users identify potentially dangerous content on their machines.

Short for Windows Ninja, Winja is, in fact, an engine scanner uploader. In other words, it does not analyze the files itself but uses the VirusTotal API to send them to the popular multi-antivirus online scanning and retrieves complete scanning reports that users can see on their desktop, rather than the browser.

To make things even easier, Winja displays a desktop widget when you minimize it, which does not take a lot of desktop space and allows you to submit new files for analysis using drag and drop.

Not only that it can send files to analysis, but Winja can also scan URLs. It does so by downloading the file and assigning it a harmless extension to prevent it from being executed. This temporary file is automatically deleted after the analysis is complete.

Winja's functionality is not limited to uploading files to VirusTotal. In its attempt to provide a more reliable malware detector, Winja also features an integrated process scanner where users can browse running apps to identify unknown processes and analyze them on VirusTotal.

The array of advanced tools Winja comes with also includes a complete process viewer that also shows loaded modules and opened files, a Windows task scheduler and a startup manager, as well as a service management utility, all neatly displayed in separate tabs of a single window. With this toolset, more experienced users can identify malicious components much easier.

With an interface obviously inspired by the latest trends, Winja can offer an elegant alternative to the web-based interface of the VirusTotal scanning service, retrieving scan results quickly and efficiently. Moreover, the extra features bring it closer to its purpose to become a powerful anti-malware toolkit.