Should these documents be dumped?

L

lady jean

New Member
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2
Location
Saginaw, MI
I, a Mac user, sent 4 pdf's to a friend who is using Windows 8. The two of us work together on many projects and I send her pdf's (often very complex ones) frequently with no problems. However, with these last 4 (which are very simple), when she tried to open each of them she got a message, "This type of file can harm your computer. Do you want to keep Sag.News Ad copy (2).pdf anyway?" followed by a "Keep" box and a "Discard" box.

Could there be any explanation for this message other than that the files could actually harm her computer? Because I can't believe that they would. I didn't use any imported material. I used an image which I scanned myself and text which I wrote myself.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Mac OS 10.7.5
Hello lady jean. Welcome to Windows EightForums.

If it hasn't happened before, her 8 probably change due to an update. Those kinds of things happen as time goes on. They keep adding options to the apps.

I'm taking it its in her Store Mail app?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1 Pro X64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer T690
    CPU
    Intel Pentium D Dual Core
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    Acer/Intel E946GZ
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She might be getting that warning because the filename has 2 periods in it. Viruses sometimes try to mask themselves by using names like file.jpg.exe or something like that. I would just make sure that when you send her files in the future make sure that you don't have two periods in the name, just use one before the extension. You said your files where named something like Sag.News Ad copy (2).pdf. I'm sure she wouldn't have gotten the warning if you had removed the period after "Sag"
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7
If you know for sure that the files came from a trusted source, then they will be fine. If they were a virus, your AV will kick in when you try to open them, and a good AV will tell you specifically why. If your AV or Windows itself is not telling you why, they are probably safe, but you should check them with your AV program just in case.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center/Windows 7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus § DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2300 MHz (11.5 x 200) 4400+ § Corsair Value Select
    CPU
    AMD 4400+/4200+
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus/Asus A8M2N-LA (NodusM)
    Memory
    2 GB/3GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce 8400 GS/GeForce 210
    Sound Card
    nVIDIA GT218 - High Definition Audio Controller
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Hitachi 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    "1842 x 1036"
    Hard Drives
    WDC WD50 00AAKS-007AA SCSI Disk Device
    ST1000DL 002-9TT153 SCSI Disk Device
    WDC WD3200AAJB-00J3A0 ATA Device
    WDC WD32 WD-WCAPZ2942630 USB Device
    WD My Book 1140 USB Device
    PSU
    Works 550w
    Case
    MSI "M-Box"
    Cooling
    Water Cooled
    Keyboard
    Dell Keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Intellimouse
    Internet Speed
    Cable Medium Speed
    Browser
    Chrome/IE 10
    Antivirus
    Eset NOD32 6.x/Win Defend
    Other Info
    Recently lost my Windows 8 on my main PC, had to go back to Windows 7.
Is it possible the person who emailed them to you could have somehow gotten the files infected? I don't mean they did it deliberately, maybe they had a Virus already in their computer. Some viruses use PDF files to transmit the virus form PC to PC, it latches on to PDF docs.

And, I handle files with mroe than one "dot" in them all the time and I;'m never warned about them, so I think if you saw something, you really should scan the files before Opening. Plus, google these tools and run them one by one:

TDSSKILLER

Malwarebytes Anti-Rootkit

GMER

And

Eset Sirefef Removal Tool Download

-You can select on the words and right click, there should be a "Search For" when you right click, Chrome uses Google by default.

It may be that your system has the PDF virus and the files got infected the moment you tried to open em. Just Save the files, and scan them with a Virus Scanner, or upload them to

http://virustotal.com

And if there is anything in there, Virustotal WILL find it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center/Windows 7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus § DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2300 MHz (11.5 x 200) 4400+ § Corsair Value Select
    CPU
    AMD 4400+/4200+
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus/Asus A8M2N-LA (NodusM)
    Memory
    2 GB/3GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce 8400 GS/GeForce 210
    Sound Card
    nVIDIA GT218 - High Definition Audio Controller
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Hitachi 40" LCD HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    "1842 x 1036"
    Hard Drives
    WDC WD50 00AAKS-007AA SCSI Disk Device
    ST1000DL 002-9TT153 SCSI Disk Device
    WDC WD3200AAJB-00J3A0 ATA Device
    WDC WD32 WD-WCAPZ2942630 USB Device
    WD My Book 1140 USB Device
    PSU
    Works 550w
    Case
    MSI "M-Box"
    Cooling
    Water Cooled
    Keyboard
    Dell Keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Intellimouse
    Internet Speed
    Cable Medium Speed
    Browser
    Chrome/IE 10
    Antivirus
    Eset NOD32 6.x/Win Defend
    Other Info
    Recently lost my Windows 8 on my main PC, had to go back to Windows 7.
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