In PC Terms what does a decompression bomb mean?

Question

iv just done a virus scan and it says 'Unable to scan: The file is a decompression bomb'.

Answer 1

Just delete the torrent / email / attachment and forget it ...

In the never ending wars between the record companies and those sharing music files it has been suggested that some music companies post decompression bombs as 'popular' albums to the torrents ... the idea being that, on receipt, when the file is decompressed, it fills the entire hard disk of multiple PC's thus preventing any other music files being 'hosted' by those PC's .. such 'bombs' decompress to hundreds (or thousands) of Gigabytes ..

Answer 2

This is a safe link where you can download winrar for free here http://bit.ly/1v2nWkq

You can use winrar to unzip zip files (or to open compressed folder). 7zip or winzip are other softwares you can use for the same purpose but winrar is by far the best one. All these programs work in a very similar way: you just have to right click the file to zip or unzip any folders or files.

If you don't want a trial version don't worry. The trial period of winrar never ends so you can use it for free with no limitations.

With WINRAR you will be able to open all the type of compressed folder like file .zip, .rar, .7z, .7zip .iso, .tar, .jar etc... that's the main reason why I recommend it.

Answer 3

Hello,
I use Winrar. Got it here: http://bit.ly/1p3OXiz
If you need to open file zip, rar, 7z, jar and all the other compressed files you need WinRar.
Best of luck!

Answer 4

It is a compressed file with an extremely large payload (upwards of 100megs), opening them uses all memory, including virtual memory, and effectively crashes the system, this is a relatively new means of a denial of service attack.

Answer 5

Restore your computer to an earlier time before you got this virus and all will be well.