If I attach a program in an email that ends in exe. will the person who recieves it be able to open it?

Question

I want try and keep some of my programs stored through email online. If I click on the desktop icon and attach the program as a file in the email will it run automayically when opened and install itself?Will the program still contain all of the original files?

Answer 1

The desktop icon is only a shortcut, so you'd just be sending the icon.
Email virus checkers look for executables (.exe) and flag them as viruses, so you probably won't get that through.
And NO, an exe is different than an installer, so an exe copy won't automatically install

Answer 2

Couple of things to consider:
- Desktop icons are generally shortcuts to an installed executable. Only by attaching the installation program (unless it really is a standalone executable) will you be able to restore the application.
- Out of the box email will generally allow any file attachments including .exe files.
- Exploiting a system by attaching a .exe file is common enough that most email servers have an option to prohibit certain file extensions (.exe, .bat, .scr, and pretty much every other executable for MS Windows systems).
- Will the .exe work on the end operating system? You can't expect an executable for MS Win32 based systems to run on say a Mac or UNIX system.

Consider using a compression utility (WinZip, WinRAR, or some of the free applications out there) to package your .exe up into a compressed file that is generally acceptable by email systems. When someone gets the email, they would just need to uncompress the file and execute it then.

Answer 3

no, 99% of the time it wont work, as that desktop exe file is nothing more than a shortcut, even so, u would need all of the installed files,(the whole program files\myapps\) folder...so it will never truly wiork, unless its a no install, single file program