Virus Removal Support

Test Your Virus Protection With the EICAR Test File

Eicar Standartd Anti-Virus Test File (Eicar) is a safe file developed by the Eicar Organization for testing anitvirus software. It is commonly used to:

• Confirm the antivirus software is installed correctly.
• Demonstrate what happens when a virus is found.
  
• Check internal procedures and reactions when a virus is found.

Download

Available Formats

Eicar.com-format

When your Virus Protection is enabled and running correctly, you should not be able to save or execute the eicar.com file to your computer. Virus Protection will automatically detect and disinfect (rename or delete) the file. Changing the file name, for example to eicar.co0, renders it unexcecutable, similar to a dead virus. If you later try to change the name back to eicar.com to execute it, your Virus Protection will automatically detect it.

Eicar.zip-format

By default, compressed files like ZIP files are not scanned real-time. Virus Protection scans these automatically when you attempt to extract or execute their content. To test the eicar.zip-format, download and save the eicar.zip file to your computer. Right-click the eicar.zip file, and select Scan eicar.zip for viruses.

	"Disinfection" occurs only when the Eicar file is renamed or deleted. For more information, see Why some files cannot be cleaned.
	Eicar is a good way to get familiar with antivirus software. Try changing your F-Secure Internet Security Level to high and see what happens.

Important! Before attempting to test your mailbox with Eicar, please read How to Clean an Infected Mailbox. Eicar is a safe file, but actions taken during disinfection may render it dangerous, especially if your antivirus does not scan incoming/outgoing e-mail. When testing a mailbox, do not select the action "Delete automatically" if the infected file is named OUTLOOK.PST, INBOX.DBX, or similar - this is your mailbox file. If you happen to delete your mailbox file, please see How to Restore a Deleted Mailbox.