Windows
7repeats a fault in previous Windows
operating systems that allows users to mistake executable programs
for ordinary text files, thereby compromising their system, a
computer security firm has claimed.
On its company blog,
F-Secure said
Windows 7 repeats the "feature" in previous iterations of
Windows that hides extensions for known file types when they are
viewed in Explorer.
If virus writers simply rename VIRUS.EXE to VIRUS.TXT.EXE or
VIRUS.JPG.EXE, Windows hides the .EXE part of the filename, it
said.
"The virus writers also changed the icon inside the executable
to look like the icon of a text file or an image, and everybody
would be fooled," it said.
F-Secure went on to show
screenshots of how
Windows 7 repeats this error.