RE: Beware of Virus zip attachment [Was: SUO: Weah, hello! :-)]
Murray Altheim wrote:
> 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
Yes, I used Unix for a couple years back in the early 90s,
and its a nice OS, though I haven't used Linux yet to see
if that one is good.
For business reasons, I have to use Windows so I can build
and test software products. My customers use Windows because
of the MS monopoly, so I have to meet their requirements.
I've long noticed that the best technology solution usually
loses out in competition with the best marketed one. I don't
expect that to change any time soon.
Rich