A2MP@PSUORVM.BITNET (Michael Perrone) (09/28/90)
>It is my belief that any file on the mac which is capable of >displaying itself as an icon has executable code to do so. If this is >true, then ANY file is open to infection by a virus designed to take >advantage of this. Actually Paul, you are wrong. It is the finder that is responsible for displaying icons. Macintosh files have 2 forks, a data fork, and a resource fork. Only a resource fork can have executable machine code. Each macintosh file also has 2 four byte fields, called the Type and Creator. All applications have type 'APPL'. The finder uses these fields to determine what icon to display for a file, and whether a file is executable. Data files generally do not have a resource fork. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | Michael Perrone, Macintosh Programmer | | Portland State University | | Office of Computing and Information Services | | Microcomputer and Administrative Systems Services | | Bitnet: A2MP@PSUORVM.EDU | | Voice: (503) 725-3112 | | Address: 630 S.W. Mill St., Portland OR 97201 | - ------------------------------------------------------------------------