Re: Running program files on XP with non-executable extension?

From: Phil Nospam (philnospam_at_dontwantnospam.com)
Date: 11/23/05 

Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2005 05:05:39 GMT

"Roger Wilco" <yesman@yourservice.invalid> wrote in message
news:11o4tdmbuchf516@corp.supernews.com...
>
> "Solly" <solly@by.co.com> wrote in message
> news:MPG.1dec0bfc778e4c399897c6@news-text.blueyonder.co.uk...
> >
> >
> > Windows 98 SE
> > Word 2000
> >
> > Will start up word and load a document regardless of file
> > extension.
> >
> > Renaming it to book.xyz still opens it.
> >
> > What this shows ia the parser must be looking not just
> > at the file name but inside the file content.
>
> Could be that to support OLE the OS must have this ability - they should
> have unregistered extensions (and no extension) default to give the
> "open with" dialog box instead of just invoking Word based on the file.
> You can still edit the registry to do this, but I don't know the
> particulars of how to do so.
>
> > just one more reason not to trust any microsoft software.
>
> To me, the whole idea of association by extension is wrong. Associations
> really should be by actual filetype (what you are complaining about) and
> the associations by extension kept to a minimum.
>
> > I wonder what other applications do this.
>
> You could experiment with other OLE(2?) enabled applications..
>
> > If you cant tell how your software behaves you can never
> > have a secure system no matter what you do with fire walls.
>
> Absolutely, and installing and running additional software on the
> machine is not the right approach to increasing security.
>

Interesting...I tried this and a couple other experiments and found some
interesting results:

1) Double-clicking on the file on the desktop (instead of opening it inside
of Word) does cause the pop-up box asking what program to use to open the
file.

2) Tried to open a shortcut on the desktop (from inside Word) to WinZip and
what appeared looks like a 208 page document of code (not very readable,
just a lot of gobbledygook like "fÄj$høFLV<uVjèõ").

3) Tried to open an actual program executable (an EXE file) and once again
saw a bunch of code.

Apparently Word tries to open each and every file regardless of the type
(tested this with Word 2000 on Win2000 system).

Relevant Pages

  • Re: GIF
    ... >> specify which one is used when I open a file with an HTML extension. ... >> specify that I wanted to use Firefox instead of IE to open HTML files? ... >> Or Nullsoft Winamp rather than Microsoft Windows Media Player to open ... >changes color, and when you let up on the mouse button, it opens. ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Running program files on XP with non-executable extension?
    ... >> Will start up word and load a document regardless of file ... >> Renaming it to book.xyz still opens it. ... > have unregistered extensions default to give the ... > the associations by extension kept to a minimum. ...
    (alt.computer.security)
  • Re: folder options/extensions
    ... Knowing what file extension would help. ... EXE File Association Fix ... tried to create a new extension using infranview (which I now realize ... wasn't the smartest thing to do) but now every program opens in ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: How do I recover an Excel File??
    ... "Jan Karel Pieterse" wrote: ... it opens the file but its blank. ... The new native Excel 2007 file format comes with a different extension by ...
    (microsoft.public.excel.misc)
  • Re: Running program files on XP with non-executable extension?
    ... > Renaming it to book.xyz still opens it. ... have unregistered extensions default to give the ... the associations by extension kept to a minimum. ...
    (comp.security.misc)