As a security measure to prevent the intrusion of potential viruses, Gmail strictly disallows users to send and receive ****utable files (files with the extension “.exe”, “.dll”, “.ocx” or “.bat”) in its policy. If you try to send these files, Gmail will send you an error message: “This is an ****utable file. For security reasons, Gmail does not allow you to send this type of file.” You might try to zip or compress the files into other formats such as “.zip”, “.tar”, “.tgz”, “.taz”, “.z” or “.gz”. However, your Gmail account will bounce back your message. How to send ****utable files with your Gmail account if you really need to do so?

Of course the easiest way is to use other email services such as Yahoo to send your important ****utable files. However, if you are still set on using Gmail to send your ****utable files, there are a few ways you can try: -

1. You can rename your ****utable files from the “exe” extension to other formats such as “doc”, “jpeg”, etc. For instance, your file name is happy.exe; just rename your file to happy.doc and send it over to the receivers. Once the receivers have received the files, they just need to change the extension back to the original file extension.

2. The other way you can try is upload your ****utable files to some free file hosting service such as DivShare or Rapidshare. Copy down the link and send it to the receivers. It’s pretty straightforward.

3. The last option you can try is to compress your ****utable file by using Winrar. Gmails doesn’t scan files in the RAR format. You can send the file out without a problem. However, you must make sure your receivers can open the RAR files.

Another alternative is that you can compress the files in a RAR or 7Z container and encrypt the file names. Gmail, while scanning will not be able to retrieve the file names and hence it will allow you to send the file. I've used this method many a times to send new viruses to Kaspersky Labs.

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Soumik • TechPortal • Animorphs Fan Forum