Test your Antivirus program

Has it ever crossed your mind that your just updated antivirus is not doing it’s job? We all think that we are protected but how do we even know that we are? Ok, enough with the rhetorical questions and let’s move to the point.

As I was researching some IT security related things I have encountered an interesting concept of creating an ANTI-MALWARE SELFTEST file. The test file is designed for users and administrators who want to check the proper operation of their anti-virus software without using actual viruses. If you are interested in more information visit the EICAR (European Expert Group for IT-Security) web site.

To create the EICAR test file follow this steps:

1. In your text editor (i.e. Notepad) create a file with the following single line in it (paste line below):

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

2. Save the file to any name with the COM extension, for example EICAR.COM. Just make sure you have saved the file in the standard MS-DOS ASCII format.

Now, after executing the file or just scanning, it has to be recognized as a malicious program from your antivirus…or not:)

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