How to Test the Working of Your Antivirus: EICAR Test

HOW-TO GUIDES, INTERNET SECURITY
57 Comments

Test the Working of Your AntivirusHave you ever wondered how to test your antivirus software so as to ensure that it is working properly? Well, here is a quick and easy way to safely test your antivirus without having to deal with the real virus. The process is called EICAR test. This test is designed to work on any antivirus software and was developed by European Institute of Computer Antivirus Research.

This process can be used by people, companies and antivirus programmers to test the proper functioning of the antivirus/antimalware software without having to deal with the real computer virus which can cause damage to the computer.

How to Test Your Antivirus?

Here is a step-by-step procedure to test your antivirus functionality:

  1. Open a notepad (New Text Document.TXT) and copy the following code exactly onto it, and save the notepad.

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

  2. Rename the file from “New Text Document.TXT” to “virus-sample.com”.

  3. Now run the antivirus scan on this “virus-sample.com” file.

If the antivirus is working properly on your computer, then it should generate a warning message and immediately delete the file upon scanning. Otherwise, you may have to re-install your antivirus.

NOTE: Most antivirus (with auto-detect feature) will pop-out a warning message in the Step-1 itself.

You can also place the “virus-sample.com” file in a ZIP or RAR file and run a scan on it so as to ensure that your antivirus can detect the test string even in the compressed archive. Any antivirus while scanning this file should respond exactly as it will do for a genuine virus/malicious code.

This 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 software.

How EICAR Antivirus Test Works?

During the development of the antivirus software, the AV programmers flag the EICAR test code/string as a verified virus. This is a standard adopted by every antivirus company so as to make the testing process simple and risk-free. Therefore, every antivirus will respond to EICAR string in the same way it does for a genuine malicious code.

57 Comments

  1. Muralimohan.A.R
     April 18, 2010 at 2:05 PM

    Thanks for the Information ,brother…….
    it worked well …..
    can u give me the details of how to create virus in turbo c++ program??

  2. Fauzi
     April 18, 2010 at 4:18 PM

    Explain about the code we are testing…what is the code all about?thanks man..keep up the good work..AVG is working…

  3. rajesh
     April 18, 2010 at 4:26 PM

    It works its really wonderful.

  4. funcky
     April 18, 2010 at 4:57 PM

    hi srikanth,

    i tried most with different file extensions i worked fine but it didnt when i try to change the text(unusaul things happened)…P

    can i know that text exactly mean(any algorithm)?

  5. victor
     April 19, 2010 at 12:40 PM

    @Sri
    Thanks for postin n enlighten us once again.I was just wondering if u could suggest us some cool antivirus security software.

  6. Evans James
     April 19, 2010 at 11:02 PM

    Hello dear srinkath,
    you are really doing a good job on this site, ur very brilliant so keep it up and we stand by you.

  7. pal
     April 20, 2010 at 10:22 AM

    nice one boss

  8. AADARSH
     April 28, 2010 at 12:15 PM

    its really awesome ………..
    to test our antivirus its really works….. man……

  9. Rakesh
     April 29, 2010 at 11:26 AM

    cool dude…..it worked….

  10. ASWIN DEV P.K
     April 30, 2010 at 2:37 PM

    The first code that can test the capability of antivirus without any harm to computer.Thanks a lot lol!!!!!!!!!!!!

  11. BROTHER
     May 1, 2010 at 8:15 PM

    thnnx…..my kaspersky works

  12. Mrityunjay
     May 4, 2010 at 7:12 PM

    Thanks…………its really working

  13. GnanaSekar.S
     May 4, 2010 at 8:58 PM

    hi…its superb…

  14. Deepak D'SKYNET
     May 6, 2010 at 10:47 AM

    Dear Sir, Thank For This Tricks To Check Our ANTI VIRUS Program Is Working Or Not.. Thank…. My Quick Heal Total Security 2010 Is WOrking Smoothly…. BEST OF LUCK For ur NEXT Creation….

    Deepak Kumar Mishra

  15. Jerald
     May 6, 2010 at 8:53 PM

    it’s very good to check the life of the anti virus

  16. mayank
     May 7, 2010 at 12:55 PM

    nice important trick

  17. Arab
     May 7, 2010 at 9:21 PM

    Hey it work good but it does not work when kaspersky is installed its only work when avast latest version antivirus is installed

  18. chanchal singh
     May 9, 2010 at 3:58 PM

    it’s great .
    it works on avast 5.0

  19. Paurakh
     May 19, 2010 at 6:20 AM

    thanks for help

  20. Sachin
     May 27, 2010 at 4:05 PM

    Thank you very much. Microsoft Security Essentials works

  21. ammy
     May 28, 2010 at 2:59 PM

    i have tested it on my antivirus
    and it dosent alert me against it
    please tell me what 2 do
    iTS LATEST EDITION of NP

  22. Wally
     May 30, 2010 at 5:07 PM

    Malwarebytes Antivirus Malware and SuperAnitiSpyware did not detect the virus.
    Norton Internet Security 2010 did detect and delete the virus.
    Thanks

  23. rinish
     June 2, 2010 at 12:40 PM

    hey dude it really works. thanx

  24. Rohan
     June 2, 2010 at 2:00 PM

    Hello Brother, Its working in my e-Scan Pro in First Step. Nice Job……..,Keep it on……

  25. Rohan
     June 2, 2010 at 2:04 PM

    i am a new reader of ur site , but i found lot more things ro read …
    thanks

  26. Raj
     June 3, 2010 at 12:44 PM

    great work…..
    my antivirus(Eset) detected it….

  27. sudipta
     June 4, 2010 at 5:34 PM

    good job this is very work full.

  28. Aliul
     June 4, 2010 at 8:58 PM

    i am a new reader of ur site.i am very glad to this website.
    Thanks to go hacking.

  29. siva sankar
     June 7, 2010 at 8:19 AM

    its working…

    i am using kaspersky it detect automatically as soon as the file is created

  30. Abhijeet
     June 7, 2010 at 11:04 AM

    Hi shrikant
    I tested this code .While saving it was showing that it is virus.
    Thanks a lot for this.But tell me how we can trust this code.What is this code.How does it work

  31. shaurya
     June 8, 2010 at 1:12 AM

    dat was gr8. can u tell me is there any way to break word07 password?

  32. sanjay
     June 15, 2010 at 12:20 AM

    hi shrikant i’m sanjay
    this is my first visit to ur site…….. what ever i want it is in ur site………. what to say about ur work it is simply excellent…

  33. bhavesh
     June 16, 2010 at 2:16 AM

    hey bro i can make a prank virus but want to know how can i make and use a really virus.by the way few days b4 my facebook account have being hacked by a boy i know him and want to do the same but helpless as i dont know hw can i hack his acc. if u can help me
    it will b very thankful to u

    my email id :-bhaveshyadav81@gmail.com

    by the way ur work for these site is awesome the info are very help full too

    thanxx a lot
    hope u will help me soon :)

  34. Sudipto Maity
     June 16, 2010 at 9:51 PM

    This is Excellent,,,,,,,,,Please kindly tell me from where I can know the codes like these ??? Thank xxx

  35. dsad
     June 23, 2010 at 6:34 PM

    I’m impressed..It worked!It is a very simple way to test your antivirus software…Good job!

  36. Saikat Dutta
     June 26, 2010 at 10:14 PM

    how does the code work ? please tell me…sir

  37. MANOJ
     July 1, 2010 at 6:40 PM

    hi brother i have tested it on my avast antivirus and bitdefender total security 2010 but it is not working on both of them what to do and what is this angry ip scanner what is the use of ethernal adsl router hacking plz help in this regand bro

  38. Jayant
     July 3, 2010 at 12:46 PM

    Thanks Srikant

    It works….which is better?avg;mcaffe;avast;avaira;kaspersly;norton or other??

    • Srikanth
       July 6, 2010 at 1:26 PM

      @ Jayant

      Bit Defender and Kaspersky are the current leaders in the antivirus market. Norton is also recommended.

  39. vikas
     July 3, 2010 at 5:42 PM

    Gr8 test!! But please explain the code .

  40. HASTHIS
     July 6, 2010 at 10:55 AM

    Thanks for another useful info bro

  41. Deepak
     July 11, 2010 at 9:53 AM

    Boss It’s working…
    Thank you very much…

  42. chaitu
     July 13, 2010 at 10:31 PM

    iam using ESET SMART SECURITY and it did not show nay warning

  43. chaitu
     July 13, 2010 at 10:37 PM

    thanks boss my eset smart security is working very wellllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

  44. chandu
     July 15, 2010 at 6:49 AM

    thanks sir it is working.. how does the code work ? please tell me…sir. and which antivirus is best? iam using avast 5.0.594..

  45. gaurav
     July 22, 2010 at 3:39 PM

    i got only one infected file but no any warnning

  46. Dallas
     July 24, 2010 at 3:31 PM

    Save it as “Mylife” also works. – Also, when you did the remove recycle bin from desktop, simply right-click and remove it. =) Happy hacking…

  47. aijolee
     July 26, 2010 at 11:58 AM

    ESET Smart Security 4.0… deleted it upon saving,! it worked!

  48. Amit
     August 9, 2010 at 10:02 AM

    MY NPV doesnt detect it

  49. siddu
     August 16, 2010 at 10:10 PM

    thanks bosss…………………..

  50. BlacMoon
     August 22, 2010 at 10:21 AM

    thanks friend……..
    my eset nod32 works perfectly. i checked it out…

  51. YIA Z
     August 22, 2010 at 5:31 PM

    IT’s niccccccccccce……….

  52. ameer
     August 26, 2010 at 1:40 PM

    it’s awsome ans its work realyy nice.thanks for the tips pal.

  53. aashish
     August 26, 2010 at 2:02 PM

    how can we remove win32\heur without a antivirus

  54. Rakshit
     September 2, 2010 at 3:53 PM

    veryyyyyyyy nice site
    my favourite site……….
    thanks for tips………
    keep going……..

  55. balaji
     September 3, 2010 at 5:37 PM

    thanx it is working in symantec norton antivirus, bitdefender, eset32, avg, avast, kaspersky, quickheal, mcafee thanks alot

  56. Arunim
     September 4, 2010 at 10:57 PM

    Hiiiiiiiii This is arunim it worked thankss.i make a virus programme to disable usb ports in c++ when i excute it shows error related to 16 bit.Please Help!!!!!!!!

WHO IS BEHIND GO HACKING

I am Srikanth Ramesh, a computer engineer from India.

Right from the day one I was introduced to computers, I had a passion for Hacking and Information security.

So, I started this blog in 2007 to share my views and ideas with the world. It all started as a blogspot blog and was later renamed as gohacking.com in August 2008.

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