So I downloaded a relatively popular virtual drum app. My AV of course didn't like the keygen. I understand most don't and it doesn't necessarily mean it is bad. However, I got curious and uploaded it to filescan.io. That is where I got worried. It suggests it has a key logger. I also was chatting with gpt about it and uploaded there. It was also suggesting it was bad and thought it likely had a malicious payload.

How can we be sure these keygens are ok?

I don't know if AV would be able to detect anything after running it or how would you know it cleaned your system fully?

 

What was the keygen for and where did you get it?

 

You downloaded and you're scared of keylogger in keygen? Hahahaha! Just buy original then... and stop complaining...

 

You could see if it is sending any traffic/data out and just block outgoing traffic. Also chatgpt may help with malware program analysis

 

A lot depends where you got it from.

 

show us the analysis log report of that file

I just uploaded for fun a random freeware vst dll had this



and try checking on https://www.virustotal.com/gui/

 

Last edited: Dec 16, 2025 at 7:18 AM

it's amazing that in 2025 there are still people who can't even get hacked right. All you have to do is click it a bunch of times and wait for something bad to happen.

 

You can't, unless you download them from a trusted website like our sister site.

Back up your entire C:/ drive so that you can completely restore your
system using a recovery disk in case of a virus or malware infection.

Of course, there is a significant risk involved in installing and registering with the keygen.

Most keygens are flagged by your antivirus software, but these are often false positives.
Therefore, you should temporarily disable antivirus software like Windows Defender beforehand.

You can scan your PC after installation with this tool:

AdwCleaner 2025 - Free Adware Cleaner & Removal Tool
www.malwarebytes.com/adwcleaner

 

Virtustotal has a tab for "Behaviour" where you can follow line for line what an executable will do to your computer, including all file, registry, network activity. Or use Microsoft / Sysinternals Process Monitor to do the same inside a local VM.