How can I check the antivirus installed on my computer?

The use of the Internet is always subject to a certain risk. On the expanses of the network, there are constantly emerging viral epidemics, of which a person who is far from computer technology may not even know. But you should buy a computer and connect to the global network, as the danger becomes more than real. Although malware, more commonly known as viruses, affects only the software, nevertheless, the stolen codes of access to the bank account make them quite material.

A computer infected with a virus does not cough or sneeze, it does not raise the temperature (although there are some that heat the processor). To protect against this scourge, anti-virus programs are used. Viruses can be divided into several main groups:

• Locking actions of the user, up to the movements of the mouse and pressing the buttons. Dialed secret codes, for example, to work with online banking transactions, are transmitted through the network to the intruder's computer, so he gets full access to them;
• Causing the infected computer to work the way the virus writer wants. The appearance of a botnet is due to this group;
• Interfere with the normal operation of the system. This can be the creation of a large number of tasks that cause the CPU to work in vain with a full load,

In fact, this classification is more extensive, but to understand the danger of these groups is more than enough. Not surprisingly, the network is constantly asked about what it is, the "best antivirus program."

Those who wish to find an answer to this question in this article will immediately be disappointed: there is no such program. If it existed, then all the others would simply disappear. Therefore, everyone has to think about how to check the antivirus and select the most suitable for functionality.

With the development of the Internet, classic antiviruses are becoming less popular, yielding the palm of priority to complex protection programs - such combiners combining the function of checking network traffic and the anti-virus block. Very often they are called Security Suite. But even with their use, sometimes you need to learn how to test the antivirus.

There are a lot of such protection systems, so we list only the most popular ones: Kaspersky Internet Security, AVG Internet Security, Avira Internet Security, ESET Smart Security.

Users who choose any such software product have a natural question about how to check the antivirus. Again, let us upset the reader: although such a verification is possible, it is not worthwhile to pin its hopes on it. There are a lot of duplicating recommendations on the network to check the antivirus. Of course, they can and should be done, but, nevertheless, the best test is the actual conditions of the Internet or the study of feedback from other users.

On the site eicar.org you need to download the test file and scan it with antivirus software. If the message about the detected malicious code is not issued, then you should think about changing the protection program. Still, it is much more effective to use special collections-archives containing various viruses. It is necessary to download the archive file, in which the viruses are packed, and check it with antivirus software. Such a method is used in the testing of protective programs, as well as for the compilation of performance reviews. A direct link to the download is not given, because such archives are constantly updated and they are very easy to find through usual search queries or on specialized forums. The main thing is not to run malicious files from the archive, but only scan with antivirus software.

Also, you can scan a known infected drive or file by the anti-virus that you are scanning. It is recommended to set the malicious code search settings to the maximum mode (paranoid).