[RESOLVED] How can this happen?

[litlewiki]

i just found something unusual

try this

1.Create a shortcut pointing to an executable file on your system
2.Name the shortcut with an URL like www.vbforums.com
3.Open ie and type "www.vbforums.com"(w/o the quotes)

Now Instead of loading the website,it launches the application pointed to in step 1.

Is this a potential security threat or just a hidden Windows trick???

[ichix_jaxx]

it won't load the website because it is just the name of the application... you can change its name to anything you want but it will still open the app that it was pointed to open...

its just like changing the label of a box of chocolates to coffee... the act of changing the label won't change the chocolates into coffee..

[visualAd]

i just found something unusual

try this

1.Create a shortcut pointing to an executable file on your system
2.Name the shortcut with an URL like www.vbforums.com
3.Open ie and type "www.vbforums.com"(w/o the quotes)

Now Instead of loading the website,it launches the application pointed to in step 1.

Is this a potential security threat or just a hidden Windows trick???

Interesting, another usability feature in Internet Explorer. When I type www.vbforums.com it comes up with a drip down box with the .lnk extension appended. If you press enter however, it goes nad opens the application.

Its not really a security issue, as any links on pages would still open the intended site. You have to actually type the URL to open the application.

[mendhak]

IE is integrated with the explorer.exe shell, and they therefore work together. You can type a URL in an explorer window, it'll work like a browser (IE) and you can type the path to a file in IE and it'll execute it. (Use the file:/// protocol).

This is just an example of conflicting names and precedence. Another example would be: create, on your desktop, a folder named "notepad". Now, open any web page in IE, and then attempt to view the source of that page. It'll not open notepad.exe, it'll just open the folder notepad.