If you don’t already have an anti-virus program, fully updated, running on your system right now then I highly recommend that you rectify that situation right away.
Assuming, however, that you are protecting your system then how can you be sure that the antivirus program you have is effective?
If it has never notified you that it has detected a virus then how can you be certain that it is working?
Well, there’s a simple trick for finding out just that.
Simply copy the following string of characters -
X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*
- and then paste it into notepad.
Next, save the file as anything you like and then find that file in whatever location you saved it to.
Right click on the notepad file and opt to scan it with whichever anti-virus program you currently have installed.
If your anti-virus program is running as it should then it will detect the file as a virus, as per my screenshot at the top of this page (don’t worry, it won’t do any harm to your system).
On the other hand, if it fails to identify the file as an infection then you ought to be concerned and it may well be time to ask yourself how you will choose a more effective AV program to replace it with.
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Article by Lee Munson
Lee's non-technical background allows him to write about internet security in a clear way that is understandable to both IT professionals and people just like you who need simple answers to your security questions.
Lee has written 2875 awesome articles for us at Security FAQs
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I’m very glad to hear that Marc.
Simple tip but what a great one. My system is working ok.
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