Re: Beware of Virus zip attachment [Was: SUO: Weah, hello! :-)]
Richard Cooper wrote:
> Murray,
>
> Do you know if a .zip file without a password
> is safe to open on windows? I've heard mixed
> rumors on that one, but nobody seems to know
> for sure.
>
> Also, I've gotten half a dozen .zip attachments
> this morning from weird addresses. Some new
> virus must be out.
As Randall mentioned, this is somewhat of a red herring,
but due to a lot of auto-opening behaviours on Windows,
you could accidentally infect yourself by opening a zip
containing a virus (which would be in an executable file).
Any zipped *.exe could potentially contain a virus,
regardless of whether it has a password or not. If you're
not expecting a zip file from somebody and you receive one,
check with the sender if you're suspicious. Remember that
the virus writers are basically competing with each other
on creating both clever code and clever messages that lure
people into opening the virus. Generally, most of these
virii won't infect your machine without you actually doing
it to yourself.
As I'm sure John Sowa would say, maybe it's time that
rather than talking about security (which they seem to
be doing a lot of these days), Microsoft could just write
an OS that actually was secure. For myself, I use linux,
and with the other bootable Windows partition on my laptop,
I simply *never* go online. The latest versions of SuSE
linux install easily, are easier to use than Windows, look
better, are more stable, and are completely secure. And cheaper.
Murray
......................................................................
Murray Altheim http://kmi.open.ac.uk/people/murray/
Knowledge Media Institute
The Open University, Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK7 6AA, UK .
"The crisis in Haiti has been growing since Aristide's party won
flawed legislative elections in 2000, and international donors
froze millions of dollars in aid. Opponents said Aristide broke
promises to help the poor, permitted corruption that was fueled
by drug trafficking and was behind attacks that armed gangs made
on his critics. Aristide, who was once backed by the United States,
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"The crisis in the US has been growing since Bush's party won
flawed legislative elections in 2000, and corporate donors gave
them millions of dollars in aid. Opponents said Bush broke
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by oil trafficking and was behind attacks on the patriotism of
his critics. Bush, who was once backed by the United States,
had denied these charges."