Am I at Risk After Extracting an EXE from a RAR File?
Asked by
CuriousCoder42
I downloaded what was supposed to be a video file but ended up with an EXE inside a RAR archive. I didn't execute the EXE because I recognized something was off when I noticed a suspicious DLL file in the same folder. I immediately deleted the files and cleaned out my trash bin. Given that the EXE was inside the RAR, am I in any danger?
Answers
I’ve seen malware disguised in other file formats too. If the file was on your PC, you could be at risk before deletion. I’d recommend running a thorough scan, not just a quick one, and also clean up your temporary files just to be safe.
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Opening a RAR and spotting an EXE doesn't inherently pose any risk. Just make sure that you deleted the EXE without running it. You're in good shape so far!
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As long as you didn't actually run the EXE file and just extracted it from the RAR, you're probably safe. However, it’s good to keep in mind that some extraction software could potentially execute files automatically depending on their settings. So while you've taken necessary steps by deleting the files, there’s still a very slight risk, especially if that EXE was malware in the first place.
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I think you're right to be cautious. Always assume an unknown EXE is malware unless proven otherwise. Just keep your security up to date, and you should be good!
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You're probably fine. Just make sure to have a good antivirus running. But considering that you didn’t execute anything, you should be alright!
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