How to test antivirus software

August 15th, 2009 by Ben Carigtan | File in: How-To

Previously, we have shown you how to install and update antivirus software. But how can you actually make sure that your antivirus is working? Surely you could attempt to download infected files from the Net, but that would be impractical and dangerous.

From my research, I came across an organization called EICAR or European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research (http://www.eicar.org) that offers a standard way to test antivirus and adware software for performance.

The idea behind it is to allow people, companies, and programmers to test their software without having to use a real computer virus that could cause actual damage should the program not respond correctly.

According to Wiki’s entry about EICAR, it likens the use of a live virus to test AV software to setting a fire in a trashcan to test a fire alarm, and promotes the EICAR test file as a safe alternative.

To make your own EICAR test file, open up notepad then paste the string below:

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

Save the file as “eicar.com” or “eicar.exe” (not .txt):

If your antivirus is running properly it should instantly prompt a warning message. Below are some screenshots of the popular AV software identifying EICAR:

So as you can see, this is like determining if your smoke detector is working without really burning your house. If you think you have a sloppy AV program, give this harmless test a try and find out! You may also try zipping the file and see if your AV can still detect it.

Keep visiting our posts, next time we will show you how to test anti-spyware software!