Create a fake virus

Many computer users’ wants to pretend that they are a dangerous hacker with the ability to take down any PC, and after you read this article, you can do show off your skills with nothing more than Notepad.

Of course, we’re not making an actual virus—it’s a fake virus. In fact, it’s a test virus. But it’s still fun.

Create a Fake Virus with Notepad

Open up a Notepad window, paste in the following text, and then save it.

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

It should look exactly like this once you’ve pasted it.

And then you’ll almost instantly see a big fat warning that you’ve created a virus—as long as you’ve got anti-virus installed and working, of course. If you don’t see any warning, you should probably make sure your virus scanning software is properly enabled.