I Want A Virus

[FeelLikeANut]

I know this is an odd request, but I just switched to a different anti-virus and firewall program. I want to bring my computer into controlled contact with a virus to test that this program will indeed catch it. Does anyone know where I can go to do this sort of thing?

[JPnyc]

I think it would matter greatly WHICH virus it was. Some, just about every AV on the market would catch, others most might miss.

[polorboy]

Go check out cnet.com, they have a bunch of user submitted stories about people who have tried similar things. You might want to see what they did and what happened to them and found out if you really want that kind of trouble. I would just trust that what ever anti-virus you have is going to do the job without having to test it. But if you really have to, go to cnet.com and look for other user stories about trying that.

[drhowarddrfine]

There is an av company that supplies such a thing, a "safe" virus, but I just don't recall which one.

[WebJoel]

Get a boot-sector virus, like "Monkey-B". Guaranteed to mess-up some sectors on your hard-drive so you will have to quarantine the runined sectors from use. :( Got one of those from an infected floppy some years ago. Very capable, this lil' bugger..

[wh666-666]

Bear with me there is such a thing ..............

Grrr typical. I was discussing this months ago in another forum and cant find the thread now. There is a site which ive tested my protection on before which was an ethical viral site that attempted to download a virus to the computer that only affects mobile phones so it wont harm the computer. Your viral portection should stop it before it has to delete it. Just been trying to find the link ive misplaced but while looking saw a product on the linky below that apparently simulates viruses, spyware and hacking attempts.

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/PC-SECURITY-TEST.shtml



(if you interested btw i was trying ages ago something from http://www.trustware.com called bufferzone. Its free and runs your browser in virtual memory so you cant actually ever physically infect a system even if you do browse warez. Have a look at the site, very good product)

[boxxertrumps]

The only way browsing a site can get you a virus is either if you use IE or download stuff.
ActiveX, you know...