[X-Apps] PC Viruses on Mac

[Florin Alexander Neumann]

On Sunday, May 25, 2003, at 12:05 Canada/Eastern, human being wrote:

>  what _is known is that the problem _is associated
>  with a file (an image) that _does contain a windows based virus, and
>  as a result of clicking on it, it reboots the finder and makes  
> accessing
>  the file impossible.

Don't let technicalities get the better of your common sense. This is a  
familiar error in logic, the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. The  
typical example is, "when the cock crows the sun rises, therefore the  
cause of the rising of the sun is the crowing of the cock".

The behaviour you describe, though rare, is not unique, and it's not  
caused by a virus. I've seen it most recently, for instance, with a  
couple of images on an enhanced CD ("Rough Guide to South African Jazz"  
World Music Network RGNET 1045). I suspect it's caused by Finder  
chocking on some previews; consequently, it crashes and then restarts,  
as it's supposed to do (note that 'reboot' applies to your entire  
system, not to Finder).

As to Win viruses, when you get someone telling you such and such file  
you sent them contained a virus, ask for specifics. What virus? Which  
app detected it, and how up-to-date was it? Otherwise, we're wasting  
our time debating vague generalities. For instance, a JPEG file by  
itself cannot execute a virus. Perrun -- a virus which hides in JPEG  
files -- can do nothing by itself even on Windows (see  
<http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/ 
w32.perrun.html>).

f