Testing - How to test your virus scanner and firewall

So after a good deal of research (hopefully) you have chosen a virus scanner, installed your firewall and you are now happily safe and secure... or are you?

Well, without a doubt the software seems to start up just fine and the firewall is probably blinking its little lights happily indicating that there is some kind of traffic going on between you and the rest of the world. With a little luck the firewall will be popping up a nice amount of questions on whether you want to allow this or that to access your system or the internet (or you have already made the appropriate settings). And after a while you will probably have everything you want to access the internet set up correctly or at least I hope so.

But a firewall and a virus scanner are much like wearing a bullet proof vest, we can't really be sure it works until we have tested it somehow. And rather than exposing it to a multitude of bullets ala' seeing if they really bounce off of Superman's chest (or viruses to go back to the topic at hand) it would be vastly preferably to have some sort of means to test our new form of protection.

Naturally you could just ask someone to send you a virus, but if your virus scanner doesn't work correctly you may be inviting a lot of problems. On the other hand you will rarely find a company to send you a harmless virus simply because they can't be sure that you won't do something with the virus you shouldn't be doing. So rather than setting fire to our houses to see if the fire department will be on time we should consider making use of so-called virus 'test-files'.

These test files have all the characteristics of a typical virus but don't contain anything that could possibly harm your computer. A good virus scanner will immediately pick up on these test files, label them as viruses and mark them for deletion (or delete them depending on what you set your virus scanner to do).

But before we run off and start downloading anything that's labeled 'anti-virus test file' we should bear in mind that some of these so-called test files may be real viruses. Which if your virus scanner works would be fine, but would have hardly been our intended test method.

Thankfully there are a few companies that offer virus scanner test files and generally the company that supplied your virus scanner will be happy to provide you with one of these test files or refer you to a place where you can get one (free of charge).

If you however have chosen a virus scanner who's company can't or doesn't provide a virus test file you can always search for the 'EICAR' test file. EICAR has created over 25 different virus test files that can be freely obtained from any number of sites (and are generally sent to your email address) and can be used to test your virus scanner into exhaustion.

If your virus scanner fails to detect any one of the test file viruses then you should definitely consider switching to a different virus scanner that detects all of them. If you would like to avoid downloading these test files or seem to be unable to it is recommended to go to a certified distributor of virus scanner software (such as Symantec) and perform an online test of your system if at all possible.

Having tested your virus scanner software (I hope!) successfully it is time to put your firewall through a similar test.

Thankfully testing a firewall is a far more simple procedure than having to obtain test files from various locations.

It may come as a big surprise that your computer has over 65000 tiny little doors that allow it to access the outside world, but also allows the outside world to access your PC. Without a firewall most (if not all) of these doors are open and can be used by practically anyone that knows how.

The purpose of a firewall is to close (and preferably hide) all of these little doors making it impossible for anyone except you to decide what goes in and out of your computer (as it should be). There are hundreds if not thousands of sites that offer to scan your firewall for you and you should feel free to use a couple of them one after another to see if your computer is actually secure.

If you are not certain what site to go to have your computer scanned for 'open doors' (known as ports) stick to the sites of companies that offer popular firewalls. Even if you do not use their software you will find that they will allow you to use their firewall test utility anyway.

A port scan (testing your firewall for those “open doors”) may take a while so be prepared to get some coffee while the test is running. The results of these port scans will generally not be displayed until it is completed and will always be accompanied by some sort of suggestion on how to solve any potential problems on your computer.

Unfortunately what companies fail to tell you is that some firewalls are (or can be) set to automatically block anyone that tries to perform a port scan. Even though this can be a very useful feature it is important to disable it during the test. Otherwise you will probably block your helpful testing utility before all your 65000+ ports are scanned. Scan results will then always show the ports to be closed when in fact they may be open to anyone. Consult your firewall documentation for any automatic blocking feature before performing a test and make sure you turn the automatic blocking feature back on after you have completed your testing.

Now finally after all this testing you can consider yourself 'moderately safe'. Since internet safety is a very relative term you should always keep up to date with potential new hazards. Occasionally re-testing your virus scanner and firewall may take a little time but will ensure that they work properly when you need them.