[ggcsquicksig] Re: Fw: [Freelists News] new virus protection implemented
- From: "John King" <johnking1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ggcsquicksig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2001 16:58:28 -0800
What the Freelist message says is correct, but it's not comlete.
Although viruses often try to mascarade as harmless graphics files
(.GIF or .JPG), they can mascarade as any type of file.
Three elements are involved:
1. Windows 95 and later allow multiple periods in a filename.
2. The default setting in Windows Explorer which is used to display
filenames in many places in Windows is to NOT display extensions (the
characters after the FINAL period in a filename, i.e. the .doc in a
Word document).
3. Many files contain executable code besides .EXE files. The most
common are: .COM, .VBS, .SCR and .PIF.
If a virus names a file "Harmless.doc.vbs", you may only see the
"Harmless.doc" if you have not set Windows Explorer to display
extensions. (In Windows Explorer, under View or Tools click on Folder
Options. Then click the View tab and uncheck the box for "Hide
extensions for known file types."). If you click on this file to open
it, the Visual Basic Script (.vbs) program runs and infects your
computer.
The other executable files besides .EXE and .COM which are normal
executable programs (.COM files are only for smaller programs and not
much used anymore) are .SCR for a screen saver and .PIF for a program
information file to run a non-Windows or Windows 3.1 application.
Just to make everyone completely paranoid, there are e-mail viruses
which can infect your computer without requiring you to open an
attachment. Fortunately, there are not yet many of these. Microsoft
has recently posted a patch to cure one of these problems, but it's a
good idea to use Windows Update and install security patches that are
applicable to your system. Of course, having up-to-date anti-virus
software is very smart if you use e-mail.
John
> The owner of Freelists sends out a newsletter to list owners (that's
me
> in this case), and today's contained an interesting item relating to
> Outlook Express - i.e., attachments with a .gif extension may not
> actually show the entire extension and therefore contain a virus.
>
> I'd been happily opening .gif attachments, although I NEVER open an
.exe
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