Can a downloaded AVI file contain a virus

Discussion in 'Windows - Virus and spyware problems' started by rogue212, Dec 22, 2007.

  1. rogue212

    rogue212 Guest

    Hi, i'm newbie so please forgive my ignorance, i've been downloading some avi video files from a filesharing program and wanted to know if a avi or video file can contain a virus or malware.
    I ask this because they are made up from parts from various souces and i had one 700MB file download in few seconds which didn't save to my download folder.
    Now the the program has been acting kinda odd and slow, i don't normally use filesharing programs and only download media files to be safe, could this have been a virus with a false avi extension or pretending to be a avi file?
    I,ve scanned with Kaspersky anti virus and spyware programs but havin't picked up anything yet but wondered why the program is acting strangely.
    I've had other video files load the same way but they always go to my download output folder and normally turn out to be just unplayable false files and deleted but this one just downloaded and vanished.
    Any advice would be much appreciated, thanx
     
  2. QuikDraw

    QuikDraw Regular member

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    Many files from several file sharing websites are full of spyware, viruses, malware, corrupted files, wrong files, etc.
     
  3. rogue212

    rogue212 Guest

    So a avi file can contain malware, some one told me media files were safe to download. The file sharing program is mostly used by someone else on my computer but it does have a detail section telling you if the file is corrupted, thanx for the reply.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 23, 2007
  4. QuikDraw

    QuikDraw Regular member

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    Last edited: Dec 23, 2007
  5. rogue212

    rogue212 Guest

    Many thanx for the info, i do understand the legal side of file sharing etc and might uninstall it, thought not strictly because of the legal side as i don't use it myself.
    It's just malware and viruses are becoming more advanced for want of a better word and i just wondered if they can mimic media files, which after reading your link they can if there's a .exe extention at the end, i.e. jpeg.exe or avi.exe etc.

    Merry crimbo by the way :)
     
  6. QuikDraw

    QuikDraw Regular member

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    On these file sharing sites. The bad guys use Music and Movie titles to fool you into thinking your dowloading a legitimate file. When you open it... surprise!

    This is what goes on all the time on file sharing websites. As a result, your computer keeps ending up with infections.

    If you'd like, we can check your computer for infections.
     
    Last edited: Dec 23, 2007

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