can you get viruses from any file?

[y2k]

I wondering. Now a days there are lot of file extension that sometimes we don even know. well may be different company want to use different signature. But what happen if the save is as *.jpg, but it is not a picture. What happen if they put a script and save it as *.jpg and can be execute using any program that can open picture.I don't know this kind of things exist or not. but virus become very intelligent today.Better be carefull.

[nihil]

Y2k,

I see what you are saying, but it depends on your applications and your associations. If I change an executable into a .txt file and open it in a programming text editor application it will not run.

So, only if your picture viewer is capable of launching executables will that ploy work.

Now, I could possibly embed something (a macro?) in a file called ABC.txt, and if you opened it in Word or Write, it would launch. However if you opened it in notepad or wordpad it would not.

I would say the same applies to all files............does it open with something capable of launching executables?