
Does your anti-virus actually work? - nreece
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eicar_test_file
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tptacek
Of course not. Does Hacker News really have to ask itself if Symantec has
secretly solved the halting problem?

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jaddison
As I recall, EICAR has been around for years. It's not 'new', by any stretch
of the imagination.

EICAR might help inform you if your AV engine is running; it won't tell you
how effective your AV engine is against current threats.

It's really only useful for developers to tell if their AV engine is scanning
anything at all... consumers don't really get much benefit from it.

