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[sunsetmotel]

 Here is a common method to determine if your antivirus program is working properly or not. Some of you may know it already, but for the beginner (noobs) this can be informative.

* Open Notepad and copy/paste the Code given below.
X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*

* The text should be in one horizontal line.

* Then save file as "checkantivirus.com" including quotation-marks.

* After some seconds saving this file, your Anti-Virus should notify you with the message that this file is infected with a virus asking permission for its deletion/clean.

* This file is secure and it’s not going to infect your computer in any way. It is a standard text developed by the European Institute for Computer Anti-virus Research (EICAR). Every Anti-Virus is programmed to load this file as a virus.

* If your Anti-Virus did not detect this file as a virus, a program will appear as DOS window with this text EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE.

* If this happens then you should probably find a better Anti-Virus. It means that your PC might already be infected with viruses and your current Anti-Virus does not recognize them.

 Many thanks to Slimer over at Leechers Lair for this great tip.

 Graham.

[upal]

I dont think this trick works anymore as "checkantivirus.com" is on sale at this moment on hugedomains !!!

[robleyd]

checkantivirus.com is a windows program name, not a domain name.

.com is like .exe in Windows - it is an executable file.