: Before opening, right-click the file and select your antivirus software to scan it for known threats.

: Ensure you are using the latest version of WinRAR (7.20 or newer) to protect against known vulnerabilities that hackers use to execute code via malicious archives.

: Most archivers allow you to double-click the file to "peek" at the list of internal files without actually extracting or running them.

: Upload the file to a service like VirusTotal to check it against multiple security engines and see if others have reported it.