Does rar-ing or blocking suspicious files makes them unable to infect my computer?

Discussion in 'malware problems & news' started by travy5, Sep 30, 2013.

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  1. travy5

    travy5 Registered Member

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    Does rar-ing suspicious files makes them unable to infect my computer? Sometimes my eset smart security alerts me of possible threats and viruses that I've chosen not to delete due to the large size of the files. For example it might flag a whole .iso file of over 700MB because one item is suspicious.

    1. I sometimes rar these .iso files so I was wondering if this way of ''boxing'' files is an effective way to stop viruses/malware from infecting my computer?

    2. I've also used the comodo blocked files feature for the same purpose, to block off some files that I'm not sure are viruses. If I put a file or folder in the blocked files section in comodo firewall does this incapacitate the file itself or does this just disable access to the file from the outside but lets the file/virus itself operate undisturbed?

    Thank you.
     
  2. J_L

    J_L Registered Member

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    They weren't able to infect your computer in the first place, because they're already "boxed" in an ISO. ESET simply extracts and scans the files, make exclusions if you don't want it removed.

    Comodo is just extra insurance in case you execute the file within the ISO yourself. Without extracting first, double-clicking within your archiver actually moves and executes the file in your temporary folder.
     
  3. travy5

    travy5 Registered Member

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    ah ok thanks. What about if the file is not an .iso? Will rar-ing the file block it from infecting my computer? How about if I don't rar it and just use the comodo firewall block files feature instead, will that work to stop it from infecting my machine?
     
  4. J_L

    J_L Registered Member

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    If you don't execute it, you'll be fine, but mistakes can happen. Comodo Firewall should block it if the path stays the same and Comodo is error-free, but I would RAR it just in case. Another benefit is possible smaller file size for easier storage, since you won't access it frequently anyways.
     
  5. aigle

    aigle Registered Member

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    Hi, the bigger question is why you have such files on your system. If these are not false positive, your security is already breached.
     
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