How To Check If Your Anti-Virus Is Working Properly Or Not

Posted by Omkar Dutta | Wednesday, March 11, 2009
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symantec logo anti virusYou may have recently purchased an anti-virus software and you believe that it is the best anti-virus software for your computer. You may be wrong! Most of the anti-virus softwares doesn't even recognize different types of viruses. Today, I will show you an awesome trick, that will help you to find out, if your anti-virus software is working properly or not.

The method I'm going to show you is called as "EICAR test file". Its official name is EICAR Standard Anti-Virus Test File. It is a file, developed by the European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research, to test the response of computer antivirus programs. Follow the simple method given below to test your anti-virus program.

  • Open Notepad

  • Copy The Line Given Below and Paste It In Notepad.

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

  • Now Save This File With The Filename "Virus.exe" or "Virus.com" or "Virus.txt"


If your anti-virus program is working properly, it will detect this file within seconds. If your anti-virus has not detected this file, it means that your anti-virus is not working properly. You can update it and check once again with this method or you can uninstall it and install a new anti-virus program.


To know more about this test, click here.



8 comments
  1. JK March 12, 2009 10:20 AM  

    Thanks for sharing. From my personal experience I learned it that every known anti-virus program can pass this test, because it is a standard for testing anti-virus programs.
    An alternative is PC Security Test which simulates different attacks on your computer and monitors the responses of your protection software.
    So the users can easily control the efficiency of their protection software such as anti-virus programs, spyware scanners and firewalls.

  2. Omkar Dutta March 12, 2009 11:03 AM  

    @JK
    You are right, this is a standard method for testing anti-virus programs. While your article is also quite useful. Thanks.

  3. Anonymous March 15, 2009 10:24 PM  

    I liked ur post
    3 cheers
    its very helpful

  4. Anonymous March 16, 2009 10:53 AM  

    I liked yout post.

    Can you tell me which blogger template do you use and can you give it to me.

    Please

  5. Dr. Admin March 17, 2009 1:58 PM  
    This comment has been removed by the author.
  6. Omkar Dutta March 17, 2009 9:30 PM  

    I have purchased this theme by one of my blogger friend. I edited many thing in this template, to make it decent and look beautiful.

    I cannot give or sell this theme right now, but I will release this theme(with modifications) for free, once I change this theme.

    Till then, ENJOY!

  7. Anonymous March 17, 2009 10:10 PM  

    Hey OMI Fluffy here

  8. Anonymous March 17, 2009 10:27 PM  

    I hav deleted that 2 posts.
    Wallpapers maine google se dhoonda hai

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