FromTheRafters <erratic@nomail.afraid.org> wrote in news:k5bmn3$8h8$1
@dont-email.me:

> After serious thinking Dustin wrote :
>> FromTheRafters <erratic@nomail.afraid.org> wrote in
>> news:k5acms$d3p$1@dont-email.me:
>>
>>> Ant submitted this idea :
>>>> "Virus Guy" wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> When a malicious process or mechanism has deposited an executable
>>>>> file onto a system, and given the file some innocuous extention
>>>>> (like .txt or .jpg), I'll take win-98 any day over NT because
>>>>> win-98 will apparently NOT be tricked into running the malicious
>>>>> file.
>>>>
>>>> Neither will NT, at least not W2k or XP. I don't know what system
>>>> FTR is running but renaming an exe to txt or something else will
not
>>>> invoke the executable image loader but will start the application
>>>> associated with the file extension; e.g. notepad. If an application
>>>> can't handle the format, e.g. a media player, then an error message
>>>> is given.
>>>
>>> Yes, it is equivalent to opening the default program to handle that
>>> filetype and selecting the file-open dialog *if* that extension is
>>> associated with that program in the registry. I have hide extensions
>>> for known filetypes checked in my folder options so I wasn't
*really*
>>> changing the extension or the association - only how it appears to
>>> the average user.
>>>>
>>>> If the behaviour of Windows since XP has changed, in that the
format
>>>> is examined to decide how to open it, then this is a very bad idea.
>>>
>>> As I recall, W98 did that with OLE2 files if extensionless. I think
>>> the trouble comes from inconsistency between the two methods and not
>>> that one method is wrong and the other right. Windows users are
quite
>>> used to the idea that a book can be judged by its cover, that is its
>>> filename or its icon. What really counts is the actual type of
>>> content.
>>>
>>>> When an advanced user sees a txt extension then he expects a doubl-
>>>> click to open the file in a text editor irrespective of its format.
>>>
>>> Yes, but mostly because he is used to it being that way.
>>>
>>>> I say "advanced" because I'm talking about those who don't hide the
>>>> file extensions. Obviously I'm not addressing the stupid situation
>>>> where extensions are hidden and a file named as test.txt.exe (an
>>>> executable) shows up as test.txt.
>>>
>>> I often wondered why MS decided to do that as the default condition.
>>> Yes, that is why my calc.exe appeared to be calc.mp3 on my desktop.
>>> The OS wasn't fooled into thinking it was an mp3 but the user might
>>> well have been - even the "properties" dialog lies to the user. As I
>>> recall, even the loaders do not depend upon filename extensions but
>>> rather on actual file content when deciding if they can or cannot
>>> handle the loading of that file's executable image, and even this
has
>>> caused some confusion where an exe renamed to bat or com can still
>>> execute as if it hadn't been renamed.
>>
>> Gets more interesting..
>>
>> If you have calc.bat, calc.com and calc.exe
>>
>> which do you think executes? [g]
>
> Since it is *really* an exefile, it is the exefile loader that
actually
> loads it and it is an exe that executes no matter what the name is.

I agree. However, if you have all three files with the same
aforementioned names and you don't specify the extension, the load order
is bat, com and finally *.exe. So.. if you mark .bat.com hidden!, the
user doesn't know he/she isn't running what they thought they were. [g]

> is that filenames may or may not be indicative of what the file's
> content actually is, and the actual content is what matters. If all
> files had content in their headers that could be used in the same
> manner as Windows uses filename extensions then there wouldn't be any
> mismatches and icons and actions could be assigned based upon actual
> filetype.

Yep.


--
There ain't no rest for the wicked. Money don't grow on trees. I got
bills to pay. I got mouths to feed. Ain't nothing in this world for
free. Oh No. I can't slow down, I can't hold back though you know I wish
I could. Oh no there ain't no rest for the wicked, until we close our
eyes for good.