Extracting exe files on OS X Lion?

[GAMboi]

I just downloaded a suite of rar files. After expanding them (I tried both Unarchiver and Unstuffit), they unified into an exe file, not an avi. Since exe files are not native to macs, does anyone know any expander or converter that will make these files viewable on OS X Lion?

Thanks for any and all advice!

 

[zortek]

my understanding is that .exe files are (windoze) app files, this would raise my suspicion about the contents if it is supposed to be a video.

you could try 'get info' and change the extension to .avi and see what happens if you try to open it in a media player. (this can also be done with a single click on the file or icon then changing, or using the change extension option in Automator)

bottom line - i would be very suspicious about this download - why does a video need to run as an application ??

ps - was the file from here ??

 

[GAMboi]

Zortek,

Thanks for your reply. The file was indeed from here. It was the film "Perfect Summer" from the thread: hot classic gay porn movies (60's 70's 80's 90's years).

Per your advice, I deleted the files and will wait to see if someone re-posts the file in a viewable format.

 

[gb2000ie]

Those exe files are EITHER self-extracting zips, or malware.

TBH - I'd assume they were the latter, because only naive people would run an exe they downloaded from a file sharing site, so no one who really wants to give you a movie would give you an exe file.

However, for completeness, lets assume we are confident the exe file is safe, here is how I would attack it:

1) try right-click it and open with The Unarchiver
2) try install wine and run the exe. I have successfully run self-extracting ZIP files through wine on OS X - it's been a while, so I'm not sure it was Lion or Snow Leopard, but either way, wine should work. Bear in mind, this is a really nerdy solution - you'll need MacPorts or Fink or something like that to get wine on your machine, then, you'll need to use the terminal to invoke wine!
3) install a Windows VM on your Mac using either a commercial virtualisation app like VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop, or with the free VirtualBox from Oracle.

Honestly though, I'd move it to the trash and move on, for my own safety!

B.

 

[GAMboi]

Thanks for the help, gb!

To err on the side of caution, I followed your advice and deleted them.