Is my Antivirus Software actually working?

How do you know your antivirus is actually working?

Here’s a handy little trick to see if your antivirus program works. It’s called the EICAR virus test. This is a dummy virus in the form text file that is recognized by most antivirus programs as a computer virus. You can either download EICAR files from EICAR.org or you can copy and paste the following text into a text document and create your own test file.

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

EICAR.org has four different test files that you can download including zipped archives so that you can test your antivirus program’s capabilities of detecting viruses in compressed archives.

EICAR stands for the European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research. They designed this test as a safe way for computer users to test their antivirus programs to ensure that the programs are actually working.

While I have no doubt that my antivirus program is working, I wanted to see exactly how the EICAR test file worked. I tested my antivirus application and it passed with flying colors. First, I attempted to go to the Eicar.com website where the file is hosted and was prevented from doing so by my antivirus program. Next, I tried to download the zipped file and received a warning that a virus had been found even before I had a chance to open the file.

I also created my own text file and attempted to email it to myself. The email never arrived! That was odd. I was expecting some sort of virus found warning. But lo and behold, when I checked my antivirus software’s log files, there it was. The program had successfully blocked the email from leaving my computer. No wonder I never received the email.

Next, I ran a virus scan on my hard drive and sure enough, my antivirus software found and quarantined the file.

Okay, that’s the good news; you can test your antivirus software to see if it’s working using this test file. However, is your antivirus software working as it should? The EICAR test file is an older file so most virus scanners will have the information related to it in their database of virus patterns. But what if your software hasn’t been updated recently? Without current virus definitions, your antivirus software won’t work as it should against new threats.

Antivirus software can become out of date in several ways. Your subscription could have lapsed, you may not be updating frequently enough, or malware could have disabled automatic updating. Do yourself a favor and double check your automatic updates settings. Is your subscription current? If not, renew your license and update your virus definitions ASAP. Do you have automatic updates enabled? If not, enable this critical feature. Are updates scheduled to occur at least daily? If not, change the schedule to accommodate daily updates. You may even be able to set hourly updates depending on your software.

Testing your antivirus software is easy enough using the EICAR test. You’ll be able to see that you’ve installed a capable antivirus solution. But even more important than testing the application to prove that it’s working properly is updating it so that it’s working to its fullest potential.