How To Test Your Anti-Virus Software

moh

Deleted, at user's request.
I have tested this before posting with avast anti virus and it picked it up as a virus....so avast is doing its job :) Have you ever wondered if your anti-virus software is really working? Would you like to see what happens when it detects a virus? Here's a safe way to test your computer's virus protection
that doesn't require you to have a real virus.

First, open Notepad. Then copy and paste into it the text on the line below. (It should all be on one line.)

X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*

Then select File, Save, select All Files for the file type, then save the file as eicar.com

Your anti-virus software may prevent you from saving the file as eicar.com,which is a sign that it is working effectively. If it doesn't raise an alert, try scanning the folder where you saved eicar.com. To see what happens if you try to run a file containing a virus, double-click eicar.com to open it.

Explanation

The file eicar.com you have created is completely safe. It is not a virus. It is a standard test file developed by the European Institute for Computer Anti-virus Research (EICAR). All anti-virus products are programmed to detect this file as if it was a real virus. Therefore you can safely use it to test whether your anti-virus software works, without fear of infecting your computer.

If your anti-virus product should fail to prevent you from running the file, it will simply display the text"EICAR-STANDARD-ANTI-VIRUS-TEST-FILE" in a DOS box. No harm will have been done, but you should probably consider using a better anti-virus product, because if it had been a real virus, your computer would by now be infected!
 
Thanks Moh.Just did test,and i got alert from my anty virus.Now i know it works
Thanks again Moh.You are a saint(y)
 
Thanks for replying sandie its good to get feedback on posts such as this....(y)
 
Great stuff ally glad that members find this post useful thanks again for the feedback.......(y)
 
okay moh, answer this if you can... when i did th e above test, i was allowed to save it, but when i tried to open it i got the notification that their was an infection.. Is this good or bad as it didnt do it immediately?

thanks
 
okay moh, answer this if you can... when i did th e above test, i was allowed to save it, but when i tried to open it i got the notification that their was an infection.. Is this good or bad as it didnt do it immediately?

thanks

I got the same wheelo,i was allowed to save it but just like you when i opened it, up popped my anti virus alert so i guess at least it noticed the virus,so i guess the lesson here is test this with any anti virus programme that you may want to try out...plus could it be that if we use a free anti virus that we are not getting the full protection...i don't know but i will stay with avast and it did stop me from opening it plus the virus didnt get to the DOS mode.
 
thanks moh, i am using AVG free, i know there are a lot of different opinions on it , but it hasn't let me down yet.
 
Very good Moh!

One always wants to know that their anti-virus is not only up and running but fully-functional. Nice post bro. (y)
 
@ wheelo

As long as your anti-virus is able to stop the intrusion prior to its execution it is doing its job in my eyes. They are not able to catch everything that is downloaded or placed on your drive because at the time they are nothing but a named file. A name which is easily altered. But once those files attempt to execute a command or such then the AV program is able to see what they are about and shut them down.
 
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