NWA-PCUG Newsletter Article, March 2004
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Clarification on Virus Checking File


This file is titled "Get Out a Clean Sheet of Paper" and is found on page 15. Depending on how you have your program setup regarding what to do when an infected file is found, you may experience different results than the author states.

He states in the article: "...here are the steps you need to take to create a standard text file that your anti-virus software mistakes for a virus because this string of characters resembles a virus definition file. Below is the text.

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

Instead of copying it by hand, download it as a text file, with the character string already in it. The file's at: http://snurl.com/av_test. Save the file to Windows Desktop. Drag and drop the file to the My Documents Folder. Open the My Documents Folder and click on the file (attempt to drag it back to your Windows Desktop)."

If your program is set for "automatically repairing the infected file", as soon as you make the "infected" file, it'll be erased with a message to that effect and no further work with it is possible, nor necessary, since you've confirmed the "working text string" is working as intended. At least this is how it works with Norton Anti-virus and I suspect most, if not all, AV programs will work similarly.

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