question on htj's

[tomrca]

could the techspot moderators consider the removal of hjt logs in document form?
could it be, that these htj documents are contributing to some of the problems found in the postings by people that already visit techspot for help, but are not aware of the danger of opening these documents?

there is always someone waiting in the wings to criticise techspot and places like it.
hope its not a silly question.

 

[howard_hopkinso]

That`s not a silly question at all.

HJT logs in the .doc file format can pose a potential risk from viruses.

From now on if I see any HJT log posted as a .doc file I will remove them.

If you happen to see any, please feel free to pm me.

Thanks for your input, it is appreciated.

Regards Howard

 

[Spike]

Further to Howards post, if I ever see a HJT log in anything other than a .txt format, I will delete it. When dealing with infections of any kind, the only files I will take from such a machine and open on my own are those filetypes that cannot be infected.

 

[tomrca]

thank you both !
would you be kind enough to tell me and any other person that reads this thread. briefly, what are the infections that document form hjt's deliver?

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Documents that can contain macros (such as Microsoft Word documents, Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, AmiPro documents, and Microsoft Access database files), are all capable of being infected with viruses.

A list of such viruses would be far too long to type here.

Suffice to say, no one should ever open any of the above file types, if they don`t know where or who it is from.

Regards Howard

 

[Spike]

Indeed. That goes for any file that is, or can contain an executable. This includes those which Howards mentions specifically for HJT's, and though hjt logs posted in these file formats (instead of txt) rarely deliver virii, they have the capacity and significant potential to do so.

Just for further info apart from HJT's, even certain image formats can contain malicious instructions, though uncommon, which is one of the reasons that email services these days prevent the images in suspect emails from displaying without your consent, though such images have to be specially crafted and encoded (nothing to to with HJT though. lol). Just an interesting aside really.

 

[tomrca]

thank you gentlemen! googled some of the info and found it very interesting.after sayng that, dont know how much i will remember though. :haha: