Zip util that doesn't autolaunch?

[John Hood]

Hey all;

I am in need of a freeware/Open Source solution for opening zip files
that can be set to NOT launch a file on execution of the zip.

Many zip files have this property, esp. installers, where the file is
unzipped and one file (usually SETUP.EXE) is launched automatically.

Unfortunately this is how viruses are spread also. My Security admin
will not allow my users to receive email zips unless a program can be
found that interrupts this behavior. This is making the users a little
"soggy and unmanageable."

Any suggestions for where I could find something like this?

John Hood E-mail: (e-mail address removed)
Website: John's Best of Freeware:
http://home.wi.rr.com/johnhood/freeware/

 

[Roger Johansson]

I am in need of a freeware/Open Source solution for opening zip files
that can be set to NOT launch a file on execution of the zip.

Many zip files have this property, esp. installers, where the file is
unzipped and one file (usually SETUP.EXE) is launched automatically.

Unfortunately this is how viruses are spread also. My Security admin
will not allow my users to receive email zips unless a program can be
found that interrupts this behavior. This is making the users a little
"soggy and unmanageable."

Any suggestions for where I could find something like this?

I have seen a lot of such files, but they are usually exe files.
I have here an install file called xxxx.exe
I can rename it to xxxx.zip and it works as a zip file, because it is
actually such a zip file you are talking about, which can autoexecute and
start an install.exe file inside.

I have a dos file called pkunzip.exe which can unpack zip files.
When I try this on a dos command line:
pkunzip xxxx.zip
It unpacks this zip file, without executing the install.exe inside.

So I assume that this pkunzip.exe is the program you need, to unpack
autoexecuting zip files without executing the setup.exe or install.exe file
inside.

You can find pkunzip.exe in a couple of million places on the web.

The trick is to use the right program to handle such zip files.
Some programs, like windows explorer, is probably set to autoexecute such
zip files, that is why they work as installer programs.
But this old classical unzipper, pkunzip.exe, does not autoexecute such zip
files.

I actually don't use pkunzip very often, because there is a function in
Total Commander which lets me look into such zip files and exe files which
are really zip files.

When I have downloaded an install program like this xxxx.exe file I first
try to look inside it, to see if it is a zip file.
If it is I simply rename it to xxxx.zip instead, so I can use it as a zip
file.

The function is called cm_gotodir and I have created a button in the
toolbar of TC which performs this function.
I use it to see if an exe file is actually a zip file.
If it is it opens up like a zip file, if it doesn't open up it is another
type of exe file.

Zip files which are called zip files never autoexecute when I click on them
in TC, so TC is another program you can use to unpack such zip files with.
But you asked for a freeware program, and TC is payware/nagware, so pkunzip
is more like the correct answer to your question.

 

[Roger Johansson]

Unfortunately this is how viruses are spread also. My Security admin
Your admin is a little confused, the email clients are badly designed, and
the users know too little. So it is not an easy problem to solve by just
naming a program which can unzip files without executing the content.

A better solution is that the admin installs a virus checker program which
scans all mail coming into the system.
Such a virus checker program must, of course, be able to unpac all sorts of
compressed files.

 

[Onno Tasler]

Roger Johansson scribebat:

A better solution is that the admin installs a virus checker program
which scans all mail coming into the system. Such a virus checker
program must, of course, be able to unpac all sorts of compressed
files.

That won't work - virus scanner can never find a virus before it is
known. Also, there is no scanner who can really scan all archives, not
to forget the problem with password protected archives.

I think the idea of preventing an auto-install is a good idea, yet it
won't prevent many virus infections. People who have no idea of how to
handle a PC should not be allowed to install anything at a machine they
need for work. Then, viruses cannot spread either.

Actually, most ZIP-programs can convert an self-extracting ZIP into a
normal ZIP-file. I remember that Power Archiver 6 was very good in doing
so, when right-clicking on an self-extracting ZIP, it offered to convert
it to a normal ZIP (and vice versa).

bye,

Onno

 

[MightyKitten]

IIRC, IZArc 3.4.1.5 (Version I Have) does not automatically launche setup
files.

Other nice features your SystemAdministrator would be glad to hear of:

- it supports a reaonable range of compression formats, including al big
players -even the fairly new 7-zip , except for ARJ

- If supported by your companies firusscanner, you can have al archives
being scanned for virusses automatically (you need to enter the 'dos'
command for this. most virusscanners have this command somewhere in the
helpfiles. For McAfee for instance, it is "C:\Program Files\Network
Associates\VirusScan\scan32.exe" with parameter "%1" (exclusde the "s)

- It is free for both private and commercial use

- An easy user interface (Most archivers have now-a-days) by the way
inclusing context menu to extract and pack

- A whole bunch of languages are supported

- Multi volume
encrypt/decrypt archive
repair archive
create executable archives (can be very usefull for the System
administrator

Download at http://www.izsoft.dir.bg/

MightyKitten

 

[David Simpson]

Hey all;

I am in need of a freeware/Open Source solution for opening zip files
that can be set to NOT launch a file on execution of the zip.

Many zip files have this property, esp. installers, where the file is
unzipped and one file (usually SETUP.EXE) is launched automatically.

Unfortunately this is how viruses are spread also. My Security admin
will not allow my users to receive email zips unless a program can be
found that interrupts this behavior. This is making the users a little
"soggy and unmanageable."

Any suggestions for where I could find something like this?

John Hood E-mail: (e-mail address removed)
Website: John's Best of Freeware:
http://home.wi.rr.com/johnhood/freeware/

Winzip can be set to not auto launch.

 

[MightyKitten]

Winzip can be set to not auto launch.

True, but Winzip is very limited in the number of archive types it supports
Besides, Winzip isn't free for commercial purposses...


MightyKitten

 

[whayface]

I have a dos file called pkunzip.exe which can unpack zip files.
When I try this on a dos command line:
pkunzip xxxx.zip
It unpacks this zip file, without executing the install.exe inside.

So I assume that this pkunzip.exe is the program you need, to unpack
autoexecuting zip files without executing the setup.exe or install.exe file
inside.

You can find pkunzip.exe in a couple of million places on the web.

Try the PKware site at http://pkware.com/

http://members.aol.com/larrystark/

 

[Peter D.]

if you have winzip normally installed then upon right clicking the file in a
file manager the context menu
has the option "open with winzip" which just opens the file without running
any installs in it

isn't that what's needed?

peter

 

[* ProteanThread *]

Hey all;

I am in need of a freeware/Open Source solution for opening zip files
that can be set to NOT launch a file on execution of the zip.

Many zip files have this property, esp. installers, where the file is
unzipped and one file (usually SETUP.EXE) is launched automatically.

Unfortunately this is how viruses are spread also. My Security admin
will not allow my users to receive email zips unless a program can be
found that interrupts this behavior. This is making the users a little
"soggy and unmanageable."

Any suggestions for where I could find something like this?

John Hood E-mail: (e-mail address removed)
Website: John's Best of Freeware:
http://home.wi.rr.com/johnhood/freeware/

What about InfoZip ? I believe it is freeware (both 16 and 32 bit
versions) and does not install or launch (unless you want it to)

can someone help out with a recent link ?

 

[Vrodok the Troll]

What about InfoZip ? I believe it is freeware (both 16 and 32 bit
versions) and does not install or launch (unless you want it to)

can someone help out with a recent link ?

The below might help

http://www.info-zip.org/pub/infozip/

 

[John Hood]

Hey all;

I am in need of a freeware/Open Source solution for opening zip files
that can be set to NOT launch a file on execution of the zip.

Many zip files have this property, esp. installers, where the file is
unzipped and one file (usually SETUP.EXE) is launched automatically.

Unfortunately this is how viruses are spread also. My Security admin
will not allow my users to receive email zips unless a program can be
found that interrupts this behavior. This is making the users a little
"soggy and unmanageable."

Any suggestions for where I could find something like this?

John Hood E-mail: (e-mail address removed)
Website: John's Best of Freeware:
http://home.wi.rr.com/johnhood/freeware/

I've read all the responses and also the mail from people who emailed
privately. I will do some research based on your perspectives.

To clarify. We DO have antivirus software on each workstation that is
updated from the server every day. It will scan inside a zip file,
however, as MightyKitten noted, it only works on known viruses.

We originally had Outlook security set to "save attachment only" for
zip attachments. They could only save the zip to disk, not open it.
The problem was that users were STILL double-clicking on them to open
them despite several warnings from us.

Anyway, Thanks again all. I'll do some research.

John Hood E-mail: (e-mail address removed) Website: John's Best of Freeware:
http://home.wi.rr.com/johnhood/freeware/

 

[David Simpson]

John Hood wrote:

I've read all the responses and also the mail from people who emailed
privately. I will do some research based on your perspectives.

To clarify. We DO have antivirus software on each workstation that is
updated from the server every day. It will scan inside a zip file,
however, as MightyKitten noted, it only works on known viruses.

We originally had Outlook security set to "save attachment only" for
zip attachments. They could only save the zip to disk, not open it.
The problem was that users were STILL double-clicking on them to open
them despite several warnings from us.

Anyway, Thanks again all. I'll do some research.

John Hood E-mail: (e-mail address removed) Website: John's Best of Freeware:
http://home.wi.rr.com/johnhood/freeware/

Training is what is needed.

 

[Peter D.]

how could the users be so dumb and double click despite warnings/requests?
it seems more drastic measures are needed than training
suggestion? - sure: disable double click option by removing pointing devices
from their stations

peter

 

[John Hood]

P -

Don't get me started:

"I opened that virus that you mentioned in your email, remember? The
one where you said "Don't open these viruses?"

"I clicked "no" when it asked me if I wanted to save my changes. Is
there a way to get that file back?"

"I can't send email, I keep getting this message that my mailbox is over
it's size limit - what does that mean?"

"There's that little thing where it's blue, but now it's gray and I
can't make it blue again."

....and my personal favorite:

"I have this one thing on my screen. I don't know what you call it.
What DO you guys call it? I mean, like, the computer term?"



John Hood E-mail: (e-mail address removed) Website: John's Best of Freeware:
http://home.wi.rr.com/johnhood/freeware/

 

[MightyKitten]

Oh yeah.... Sound very, very , very familiar.

What about:

I turned the virusscanner off, because it kept giving me all these messages
(about 120 infected files on the computer)

Some one who was very scared about the hard disk. she (as one of the first)
discoverd the harddiskled blinking while reading/writing to the disk. In her
mind, blinking was a bad thing, as it probably meant the harddisk was
skipping bytes (or something like that) Solution: Plugged the harddisk led
on tho the system power led. She was happy again...

An engineer (Most of them are a blessing, those that are not, are hell)
complained about a bad monitor. It continualy 'moved'. at arival, he had a
fan with a diameter of 60 cm (you know, like a mini jet engine) just 31 cm
from the monitor. The monitor vibrated in the rythm of the rotation of the
fan... Ok, but what If I tell you this engineer was in charge of high
voltage designs...????

The counles new software packages of microsoft:
Windows 97
Office 98SE
Windows office 2000
Microsoft Photoshop
to name a few I encountered. Especialy Office and windows are swapped like
it is the same program

Also, as system administrator, you *are* responsible that every F**King
website in the world works. If it does not, Its your (servers) fault. When
there was the eclipse over europe (1999) I was called by 5 different people
who took a look at the official eclipse site why the could not connect to
it. A management person thought it was my top priority I got it up and
running again...

Sometimes I just get paranoid and thing they are all out there to get me...


mightyKitten

 

[John Hood]

MK;
Ah, a kindred spirit from the trenches I see...

"Microsoft Office 95", is common, and I had one guy who insisted that
Microsoft Office XP would not run on Microsoft Windows 2000, because he
"tried it at home and it didn't work." It's no use telling him he's
wrong, because he's been around since the old Hdos days.

Every email that doesn't go through is your fault, every computer error
is due to bad setup. I have a user who is on her third laptop in a
year. Her excuse; "boy these things are so fragile!"

MK do you even go out to the Shark Tank on Computerworld.com? I read
the weekly installment, and have a laugh, and that makes me feel better.

John Hood E-mail: (e-mail address removed) Website: John's Best of Freeware:
http://home.wi.rr.com/johnhood/freeware/

 

[MightyKitten]

I did not know about Shark Tank, but I will certainly visit it....

Most of the time, I search relaeve at http://www.sysadminday.com/ and (even
better) http://www.techtales.com, where it is proven that facts are often
more strange then fiction... Some stories are al most certain face, but the
ones who seem real, often realy make my day!

MightyKitten

 

[John Hood]

:-D
I'll check 'em out thanks MK!

John Hood E-mail: (e-mail address removed) Website: John's Best of Freeware:
http://home.wi.rr.com/johnhood/freeware/