Re: So I click on this link...

Justin C <justin.0809@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <1imx4kj.esank91eqq23eN%totallydeadmailbox@xxxxxxxxxxx>, The
Older Gentleman wrote: > Isaac J. <me3@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >
The Older Gentleman <totallydeadmailbox@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Isaac J. <me3@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Stimpy <stimpy1997uk@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
It's a windows .exe. It won't run on a Mac. You're safe.

Yes. Worst case I could drag it into Fusion and run it
there. Sounds incredibly likely, but knowing my ability
to create unnecessary chaos ... :)

It still wouldn't do anything.

Isn't that how the carpet bombing attack works?

IE is inclined to run certain files sitting around on
your desktop (or something like that).

An .exe file is a Windows file. It won't run on the Mac OS.

Not necessarily. It is traditionally the extension used by executables
on MS platforms. However, an OS X executable could be *named*
[something].exe. Giving it the suffix .exe will not prevent it running
on an OS X machine.

No, but it is a pretty safe assumption that something with the extension
of .exe on the net is not put there to execute on a mac.

Does Safari respect the executable bit on a download? Well, I believe
it does, though I can't recall for sure, I'm sure someone here can
clarify that.

A download is just a binary blob of data, it doesn't have an executable
bit. If you want to keep flags on it you need to put it in some kind of
archive. Safari will unpack an archive or open certain kinds of file (by
passing it as parameter to an application) but it will not execute
anything. Things that open also come up with the 'This file was
downloaded from the internet on blah. Do you want to open it' dialog.

While I agree that a file designed for an MS operating system, with
the .exe suffix will not run on OS X, it is not a forgone conclusion
that every file with the suffix .exe *cannot* harm a Mac.

No, but it is so close to a forgone conclusion that it is not worth
putting much effort in concerning yourself with the chance it will.

--
Woody

www.alienrat.com
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: So I click on this link...
    ... An .exe file is a Windows file. ... It won't run on the Mac OS. ... It is traditionally the extension used by executables ... Giving it the suffix .exe will not prevent it running ...
    (uk.comp.sys.mac)
  • Re: Executable on AIX..
    ... Bill Edison wrote: ... an .exe suffix can be used in the file name but unix/linux does not ... which will try to execute a text ...
    (comp.unix.aix)
  • Re: OT: EXE files in HTML?
    ... >>> I would like to be able to put an EXE file at my Web ... > I would hope that it would download temporarily and execute ... some of the photos. ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: IIS 6.0 CGI
    ... EXE) from the /Scripts virtual directory. ... Configure /Scripts vdir pointing to C:\Scripts with Execute Permissions ... Enable the Web Service Extension ... IIS6 does not allow scripts to execute on the server ...
    (microsoft.public.inetserver.iis)
  • OT: Portable build systems for portable programs was: Re: OT: LCC bug fix poilicy
    ... a ".exe" suffix on executables (and adding one is, ... the ".exe" suffix is required but needn't be specified ... My makefiles collect rules for converting base names into executable ...
    (comp.lang.c)