Windows Meta File (wmf) virus

[IKraus]

When I installed Xara Xtreme, I had it take over many of the functions for displaying images that were found in the built-in Windows Picture and Fax viewer. (Item which is vulnerable to this exploit.) Does anyone know if simply changing the file assocition for WMF files to Xara's Picture editor is a quick fix for this exploit? My assumption being that Xara would block any nastiness from happening, but then I could be wrong on this point too!

I just did a big presentation at our December user group meeting on Xtreme, and it garnered a lot of interest. Would like to be able to tell them that this is another good reason for using Xara! ;-)

[mykyl1966]

Windows update now has the fix for this issue.

Cheers

Mike R

[Ross Macintosh]

Here's a direct link to the official microsoft patch.

[ED]

Additional info, for you listening pleasure, on the current patch and some background details on how all this came about. You'll be surprised to know that this was a WMF "feature" not a bug. Enjoy!

http://media.grc.com/sn/SN-021-lq.mp3

[sallybode]

Thanks for the link, Ross, the audio link was very interesting, Ed.