How to check whether antivirus is active or not

Almost everyone has installed least one antivirus program in our computers, whether it is free or paid version. Antivirus is primary ‘security guard’ of our computer and we mainly depend on it.
What if your antivirus isn’t really active and is not working even though it shows it is ?
We do have confidential stuff on our computer and we also do online transaction, use password to login etc. We believe that our antivirus is protecting our ‘confidential’ details and we are safe from hackers, but wait, What about having a test and check whether your antivirus is doing what it promises ?
In this article I will teach you a method to check whether your antivirus program is active and keeping an eye on every single activity and is working or not ?

We will create our very own virus for this test. Don’t worry! this virus will not hurt your computer, since it is specially designed to test antivirus programs.
If you are ready to check whether your antivirus is working or not, follow the given steps:
Step 1: Open Notepad (By pressing Ctrl+R and then typing Notepad in next window then pressing Enter)
Step 2: Copy the following Test Virus’ source code(Don’t worry, it’s safe) and paste it in notepad:

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

Step 3: Now save the Notepad file with name antivirustest.com
That’s it, now if your antivirus is really active and powerful, it will display a warning message on your screen or it may not allow you to save this file or will delete it automatically. If this doesn’t happens, then may be your antivirus isn’t that powerful but still you can open location where you have saved antivirustest.com and try to run it, if your antivirus detects it then congrats!, Your antivirus is working but if it doesn’t do anything then it’s high alert for you and you should immediately change your antivirus program and install a new and powerful one.
Please note that, although if your antivirus displayed a warning message after Step 3 this doesn’t mean you are fully protected, hundreds and thousands of viruses are created daily which is very dangerous. To protect your computer from these viruses it is always suggested to update your antivirus regularly, once in week or at least once in a month.
That’s it, if you want to share your experience, comment below.