So in short, the EICAR antimalware test file does nothing and is absolutely harmless even if it is run on the computer. Here we have 6 ways how you can safely test your antivirus to see if the real time protection is truly enabled and working to protect your computer against viruses.Ī few antivirus researchers have come up with a harmless file that is detected as if it were a virus and is distributed at EICAR. The question is, how do you know if the antivirus or antimalware installed is actually protecting your computer? The program would probably state that your computer is protected or the protection is enabled but how can you be sure that it is really working and confirm if the antivirus or its virus definition hasn’t been tampered with? Searching for a real virus from the Internet and downloading it to your computer just to test if your antivirus can detect it may not be the best option because you’re risking your computer being infected by it if you’re not careful.

By then, the damage has already been done since the virus has been active and you wouldn’t know what information has been stolen from your computer. Malicious software can be very sneaky, getting onto your computer when you least expect it and stay hidden until the security software finally detects it.

Most of us have security software such as an antivirus, antimalware, firewall or Host Intrusion Prevention System (HIPS) installed to help protect our computer against known or unknown malware.

Zemana antimalware