what is *.bat file

i got a message from citibank as it seemed to be n when i clicked it some processing held n a message came that c: cant b formatted . currently in use.
then i saw this that file had a down.bat file
what is a .bat file?
how it can harm my pc?

Its a batch file - Most viruses are .bat files.

If your using email that your ISP gave you, send this message to them and have them check it out.

Well, depending on the OS and the commands in the .bat file, yes, it can harm your PC. A .bat file is a batch file, which is a file that holds a "batch" of commands. Almost like a script file but not as powerful. That said, it could hold a command like "del c:". You might want to double check if anything was deleted. You can open the file with notepad.exe since .bat files are in clear text.

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You might want to make sure that you can see all extensions in your email.

it means that these commands run in dos?
i.e. that mail contained code like format c

Possibly. Open it up and see what's inside. Make sure your antivirus is running however just in case it's not a .bat file (I assume you have "View Full Extensions" enabled in your system)

This particular one is batch file...
it already tried to format your C: drive... and who knows what...

my sugestion is to post that file here, as attachment so we can see what it is about. AV software won't do anything about it, because it is not a virus... ah, what OS are you using?

Quote:

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..because it is not a virus

---

How do you know that?

The W32.Novarg worm uses .bat as an extension sometimes.

I hope you see this in time :(

Run msconfig and carefully check what is in your startup files.........it may try to format C:\ on the next boot.

On the face of it it sounds more like a vandal than a virus?.............."vandals" are one-off destroyers, viruses have to infect and replicate?

Cheers

Well I can't bw 100% sure, but it sounded like not a virus... virus don't destroy themselves before they replicate... it is probably 'vandal' like nihil said.

A few years ago I got something similar. It was .bat file with following lines

format c:
y

it gave me a god laugh... but someone less expirienced would probably started it...

Do yourself a favor and add a little tweak to your context menu.

http://www.dracon.net/regedit/reg04.html

Then you can right click any unknown file and open it in notepad.
I never double click unknown file types, but have several
custom options in my right click "context" menu like notepad, debug.exe,
hex edit, etc. The default action for BAT files is to execute
the commands contained in it. Not exactly the safest way to open
an unknown file.
:cool: