* 127001@redirecttothelh.org wrote in news.software.readers:
> I've noticed that when you click on a post that contains a zip archive,
> Xnews will respond after the post loads:

> attachment decoded

> With Xnews, the file isn't seen on the hard drive until you actually choose
> to download and save the file. Assume you don't save the file and go on to
> the next post, is there any chance of the exe file in the zip spreading to
> the computer? I've noticed that the mbx file of the newsgroup disappears
> from the Xnews data directory once the group is closed.

Well, in theory, just about anything on a windows machine is possible.
There are a couple of things to consider however.

Do you have storage turned on?
Headers or All?

As long as you don't automatically save attachments of type ZIP and don't
store headers and messages there is a very small chance that a rogue
trojan could find your xnews data files, decode the data and execute the
results. I say small chance in that if the group is opened and you've
decoded the attachment by opening the post, the rogue would need to
execute at that time as once you close the group the encoded data is
purged.

With storage on the chances are still relatively small but certainly
more possible as the code still exists on the physical HD even after the
group or for that matter, the application is closed.

Still not something I would concern myself with IMO.
--
David
No problem is so large it can't be fit in somewhere.