Stupid Question re: downloaded EXEs

[Jericho]

I think that my Norton Anti-Virus can scan an EXE before I open it and let me know if it's infected with a virus. But, am I correct that the said EXE program could still be a malicious program and still f my system up if the EXE developer so designed it? Norton couldn't detect this, right? I'd like to download some programs off of various newgroups, file-sharing sites, etc., but I know that opening an EXE that you are uncertain of can be fatal. Thanks in advance http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Rick]

You have two options when dealing with new download exe or otherwise

If you first download them then scan them before you run them you can detect if they have a virus in them

Second you can start NAV in auto protect mode and allow it to run while you work with any and all new files.

It is always best to scan them first before running them
And Run the NAV autoprotect when you run them till you are sure they are clean

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To ERR is HUMAN
To REALLY screw things UP, YOU NEED a COMPUTER !

[iisbob]

First ; NO such thing as a stupid question! Just improper ones!!

Just my thought http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

Next, the reason you download virus definitions is do that Norton ( or any anti-virii program ) can recognize potential virii or maliscious programs, so if that executable has a " signature " that Norton recognizes as a potential probelm then it'll alert you. This is why it's so vitally important to keep your virus definitions ( dats ) up to date!

Any program that carries out a set of instructions is actually an " exe ", just that in the case of say a .vbs extension then windows needs a reference program to associate it with in order to run the .vbs program ( in this case visual basic ) , whereas a .exe extension tells windows it is a self-contained program that windows knows will run it's on code set internally with out intervention from a third party extension.

As i mentioned above, that's why you want to keep your anti-virus program definitions as up to date as possible, so it can recognize the signature included in these programs and determine if they do represent a threat.



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iisbob

Life of a tech-support specialist-
"..Tech Support: "Use the right button to click on the shortcut--"
Customer: "I don't have a right button."
Tech Support: "You should have a right button."
Customer: "I'm sure. I have 'ctrl', 'alt', 'backspace'..."

[ErnieK]

Jericho
Within your AV software make sure that it set to check for "HEURISTICS" as well. This means that it a program LOOKS suspect it will warn you.

I use DAP (Download Accelerator) to download all my files. It can be setup to scan for viruses, (using your installed AV software), after download is completed. You then get a message saying "No Viruses found" Usefull for large downloads as well. Other download managers will more than likely have this facillity as well.

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Ernie