+paul_stratton Posted October 22, 2003 Share Posted October 22, 2003 I have custom GPX files sent periodically and today I got the following message from my ISP. "Yahoo! Mail Virus Protection detected a virus in the file '5584.gpx', attached to the enclosed email message. We scanned the file using Norton AntiVirus but were unable to clean it. Therefore, we removed the content of the attachment from the message. Please contact the message sender if you want to receive the attachment. They must clean the file and resend it before we can deliver it to you safely." I've received two of these today. Anybody else getting viruses with their GPX files? paul_stratton And to think that I once had trouble finding my own "@@@" with both hands... Quote Link to comment
+Lone Duck Posted October 22, 2003 Share Posted October 22, 2003 NO! And I use NOD32, the best virus protection in the world. The only product in the world not to miss an "in the wild" virus for the past 5 years. That Quack Cacher: Lone Duck When you don't know where you're going, every road will take you there. Quote Link to comment
+JamesJM Posted October 22, 2003 Share Posted October 22, 2003 Microsoft Outlook doesn't like GPX files either. I can't even download them! I have to get the .ZIP file now I'm not saying a virus can't exist, but my first guess would be that Yahoo doesn't know what they are an in the name of 'caution' reports it as a virus. I could be wrong. <smile> - JamesJM Quote Link to comment
+Geofool Posted October 22, 2003 Share Posted October 22, 2003 I had this problem once. You can read about it here. Very strange. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Quote Link to comment
+ka3mgh Posted October 22, 2003 Share Posted October 22, 2003 This has also been occurring with the GPX files I have been getting lately. Yahoo has been saying they contain a virus. I have been forwarding the emails as an attachment to my ISP email account and then rescanning them with Norton Antivirus and they have been coming up clean. There must be something within the GPX file that yahoo objects to as is metioned in the thread by GeoFool. Quote Link to comment
+Clffhngr Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 Same problem here. I'm not sure what to do about it. The error refers to an application. So I think that yahoo is looking at the GPX file as an exe file. Why? Don't know. "It's a dull mind that spells a word one way" Quote Link to comment
+New England n00b Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 Perhaps posting this in the Geocaching.com forum might yield an 'official' answer faster? --------------------- It wasn't me. Quote Link to comment
+DustyJacket Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 quote:Originally posted by JamesJM:Microsoft Outlook doesn't like GPX files either. I can't even download them! I use Outlook and have never had a problem with GPX files. I have also used MacAfee and now use Norton antivirus and have not had either one indicate my pocket query GPX file was infected. DustyJacket Not all those that wander are lost. But in my case... Quote Link to comment
+paul_stratton Posted October 23, 2003 Author Share Posted October 23, 2003 Thanks Everyone! I've changed my PQs to be in zipped format and that seems to work. I've been getting PQs in regular GPX and eBook formats for over 10 months, today they're being rejected by my ISP. I'm sure there is a valid reason for the rejections, but as long as I continue getting my PQs, the reason doesn't matter... Even though the ISP scans for viruses, I always scan zipped files and everything else that is downloaded. McAfee works! paul_stratton And to think that I once had trouble finding my own "@@@" with both hands... Quote Link to comment
+blindleader Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 If you get a gpx file that's flagged as a virus, just open it in wordpad, notepad, or whatever and see if there's anything in there that doesn't look like waypoints and header info. gpx is really xml code which could be executed (by a browser). Since html/xml viruses do exist, they could be present in a gpx file. Just don't ever load the infected file into a browser and you should be fine. Better yet, just edit out the offending code. Somewhere on the topografix web site is a complete specification for the gpx format. You could go there if you really want to know everything that's legal in a file. Quote Link to comment
+alexm Posted October 23, 2003 Share Posted October 23, 2003 quote:gpx is really xml code which could be executed (by a browser). Since html/xml viruses do exist, they could be present in a gpx file. Now that's enough to scare the hell out of you. Someone injects some (javascript/vbscript/activex/etc...) code into a cache page. When you open with something like Watcher or browse on your local hard drive, you're running untrusted code in the "local" zone (or whatever IE calls it). Hmm.. Now to figure out how to sneak a script into a cache page and make it self replicating... Quote Link to comment
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