HOW TO TEST IF YOUR COMPUTER ANTIVIRUS IS WORKING

There are several occasions on which you buy several antivirus software, install them on your computer and your computer, knowing too well that you have enough space on your hard disk for your computer to run fast and yet, every process still seem to be slow. Well, it may be that your antivirus software is not working. Yes! It's possible. So you may want to check if your antivirus is working or not. In case you don't know how to do this, I will show you how you can get it done within a few minutes. You can test the activeness of your antivirus using a process called EICAR test, this test works on any antivirus and it was developed by the European Institute of Computer Antivirus Research. This process which is used by individuals, companies and antivirus programmers checks if your antivirus is working without having to deal with the real computer virus. Just followw the steps below...

1. Open notepad on your computer (click on start, then select all programs, then select accessories and you'll see notepad, doubleclick on it to open)
2. Copy this code exactly the way it is X5O!P%@AP
[4PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-
STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-
TEST-
FILE!$H+H*
and paste it into the open notepad

3. Save it as myfile.com






4. After saving, scan the new document "myfile.com" with the antivirus

5. If the antivirus is functioning well on your computer, it should generate a warning and immediately it warns you, delete the file upon scanning, otherwise you may need to reinstall the antivirus software
NOTE Most antivirus will give a pop up warning message in the step 1 itself You can also place the
myfile.com file in a ZIP or
RAR file and run a scan on
it
so as to ensure whether
your antivirus can detect
the test string in the
compressed archive. Any
antivirus when scanning
this file will respond
exactly
as it will do for a genuine
virus/malicious code. Thiss
test will cause no damage
to your computer even
though the antivirus will
flag it as a malicious
script.
Hence it is the safest
method to test the proper
functioning of any
antivirus.