Skip to main content

Testing your Anti-Virus


After installing an Antivirus, you may logically wonder, how do I know if it's working ? The answer is a test virus. The EICAR Standard AntiVirus Test File is a combined effort by anti-virus vendors throughout the world to implement one standard by which customers can verify their anti-virus installations.

To test your installation, copy the following line into its own file, then save the file with the name EICAR.COM. More detailed instructions are found below.

X5O!P%@AP[4PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*
The file size will be 68 or 70 bytes.
To Download this test file Click Here
Change its extension from txt to com.

If VirusScan is running and configured correctly, when you try to save the file, VirusScan will detect the virus. If VirusScan is not running, start it and scan the directory that contains EICAR.COM. When your software scans this file, it will report finding the EICAR test file. The antivirus industry, through the European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research, has adopted this standard to facilitate this need.



Note that this file is NOT A VIRUS. Delete the file when you have finished testing your installation to avoid alarming unsuspecting users.

NOTES - The file is simply a text file of either 68 or 70 bytes that is a legitimate executable file called a COM file that can run by Microsoft operating systems and some work-alikes, including OS/2. When executed, will print "EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!" and stop. The test string was specifically engineered to consist of ASCII human-readable characters, easily created using a standard computer keyboard. It makes use of self-modifying code to work around technical issues that this constraint makes on the execution of the test string.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fulfilling The Urge of Shopping is Now Easy

Shopaholics on the alert! Get set, and go! Yes, it has indeed turned into a race – a race of online shopping. It may be an occasion embraced shopping carnival or a clearance sale or simply just a season ending mega sale. On its way is another such colossal online shopping fest knownas the Great Online Shopping Festival or simply GOSF which is to take place from the 10th to the 12th of December 2014.   What does GOSF do? The GOSF is an initiative by Google and was launched on the 12th of December, 2012. Ever since then, it has been a favorite among its users. The GOSF offers are not only limited to those particular days of December but numerous trifle coupons, reminders as well as updates are also sent to your registered email ids all through the year. Along with these, there are funny little games on the GOSF site that provide you with innumerable opportunities to win yourself free gift coupons or free shopping facilities just by scoring points in the game.   Worried about the products...
96 comments
Read more

Add a countdown to your page using jQuery Responsive Countdown

If you have any questions that are beyond the scope of this help file, please feel free to email via my user page contact form here . Table of Contents Brief Description Step 1 (Download, Unzip) Step 2 (Set options) Step 3 (Import required files) Step 4 (Create HTML container) Step 5 (Create and activate countdown) Resources Brief Description - top jQuery Responsive Countdown is a tool that gives you the ability to create a nice looking countdown, which uses flipping animation to display remaining time to a target date. Since it is based on the canvas object it cannot run natively in older browsers like IE8. The tool uses SVG data to draw the digits and the panels, so it is scalable and looks nice on larger resolutions too. It does not use images, so it is very easy to change colors and adapt the look of it to the design of your page. The tool has a large list of options, but it can also be activated with few lines of code. In this tutorial I will show you how to add the ...
22 comments
Read more

India’s First Web TV – IndiaVibes

Well it seems like Indians too have jumped into the online Television market. With the launch of IndiaVibes on 1 Jan 2011, the competition is on. As they claim, they are the first ones to enter this segment. The concept is new, the strategy is fine and the goal is clear to a dedicated team of IndiaVibes. Unlike other sites, which offer live streaming of  TV channels, they telecast their own shows which are not broadcasted anywhere else. Though the team has some experience in Malayalam cinema, the shows that are currently aired are not in Malayalam, but English  – reason, to attract the masses. Currently there are 8 shows targeted at all age groups and these are expected to increase at the near future. As they say, they don’t focus on celebrities to get fame, they target masses. As per India Vibes ,” Our vision is to showcase the richness of India’s entertainment culture to the world ! We wish to make Indiavibes portal,as its name suggests the one stop for all the enterta...
3 comments
Read more