Question Can anyone please tell me if this txt file or the lines in it are suspicious for being a virus?

[Scotch_98_]

Hello,

some guy sent me a txt file and I am getting kinda paranoid that it might contain a virus. I did some research in the web and figured out that txt files usually cannot contain viruses. Nevertheless I just wanted to get sure. I even changed the Windows settings to see the file endings, because I've read that some use these tricks to fool other people. My antivirus stated the file as not being a threat. The txt includes the following lines:

? ¦¦-¦¦-¬.......-TTT=T¬-=T=T==T=¬¦ ? ? ? ?
? ¦¦¦¦¦¦¦AnD¦¦¦¦¦¦L¦=¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦ ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ¦¦LLLL-.......L==¦=¦=¦=¦=¦¦¦¦=-O ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ? ? ? ? ?


Melin

Thank you in advance.

 

[salm2s]

Hello,

some guy sent me a txt file and I am getting kinda paranoid that it might contain a virus. I did some research in the web and figured out that txt files usually cannot contain viruses. Nevertheless I just wanted to get sure. I even changed the Windows settings to see the file endings, because I've read that some use these tricks to fool other people. My antivirus stated the file as not being a threat. The txt includes the following lines:

? ¦¦-¦¦-¬.......-TTT=T¬-=T=T==T=¬¦ ? ? ? ?
? ¦¦¦¦¦¦¦AnD¦¦¦¦¦¦L¦=¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦ ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ¦¦LLLL-.......L==¦=¦=¦=¦=¦¦¦¦=-O ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ? ? ? ? ?


Melin

Thank you in advance.

If you don’t like the file then just delete it. It looks like some retarded code, so just delete it

 

[USAFRet]

Why are you accepting random text files from people you don't trust?

 

[Ralston18]

And I am curious about "some guy" - do you really know him in some way or another?

If so, call him and ask what he sent you or thought he was sending you in that text file.

 

[digitalgriffin]

Hello,

some guy sent me a txt file and I am getting kinda paranoid that it might contain a virus. I did some research in the web and figured out that txt files usually cannot contain viruses. Nevertheless I just wanted to get sure. I even changed the Windows settings to see the file endings, because I've read that some use these tricks to fool other people. My antivirus stated the file as not being a threat. The txt includes the following lines:

? ¦¦-¦¦-¬.......-TTT=T¬-=T=T==T=¬¦ ? ? ? ?
? ¦¦¦¦¦¦¦AnD¦¦¦¦¦¦L¦=¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦ ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ¦¦LLLL-.......L==¦=¦=¦=¦=¦¦¦¦=-O ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ¦? ? ? ? ? ?


Melin

Thank you in advance.

The | marks are likely pipe based delimiters for fields. This isn't likely code, but data. The ? could mean "not supplied", "not set", or "empty/NULL".

Is it hacker code? 99.9% not likely. If it were, it's non executable on it's own. Computers need a registered file type like .exe .com .js, etc to execute code. .TXT is not one of them. It is possible it is embedded with malformed data that causes a standard program to crash (Some modern viruses defeat anti viruses this way. Viruses attack the anti-virus with a malicious package that will be opened by the anti-virus scanner. The data is malformed in such a way it causes the anti-virus scanner to crash. (Likely a badly zipped file)) But the likelyhood of this happening on a small .txt is next to zero.

 

[jsmithepa]

Stuff like this, if u must find out, DONT DOUBLE CLICK it, the dang thing may execute anyway, just right-click it and tell textedit to open it, and if looks garbage, is garbage.

Even people who u think u know, hackers can spoof senders' name and make it seem somebody u know is sending you stuff.

Backup-backup-backup. Ignore at your peril.