Trick Gmail Antivirus Scanner: Send Any File Type with Gmail. (.exe, .dll, .com, .bat)

By Garrett Blanton posted on Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - (Tips & Tricks)

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Are you a Gmail user? Have you ever tried to send a .zip file or .exe as an attachment and had it rejected? If so you better read up on how JVF fixes this frustrating occurrence with an easy work around.

We all know that Google has some the best spam filtering and phishing detection capabilities on the planet, but the new Gmail virus scanning is a bit disappointing. When you send and receive attachments with Gmail, they are auto scanned for viruses. If Gmail thinks your mail has a virus attached, it will attempt to clean the file or remove it. If it detects a virus and can't remove it, then you won't be able to download it. Sometimes it randomly thinks your attachment is SPAM, deletes it, and then never notifies either party of what happened. Gmail, where did my email go?

All of that is fine and dandy, but what is with the restriction on some of the most basic file extensions? Thanks to the new Gmail antivirus scanner, we are no longer allowed to send or receive emails with .exe, .dll, .ocx, .com or .bat attachments. Even if the same files are sent in a zipped format (.zip, .tar, .tgz, .taz, .z, .gz) they will be rejected! To the best of our knowledge the only format is still allowed is .rar, which is good news for WinRAR users.

I first noticed this when I tried to send a small installer application as an attachment to a friend. When I uploaded the .exe file to Gmail it gave me the alert:

"This is an executable file. For security reasons, Gmail does not allow you to send this type of file."

Wow, are you serious!?! The file I uploaded was not scanned at all, it was just blocked immediately since it was an exe file. Why would Google call this an antivirus scanner when it is merely just blocking attachments with certain file extensions? Yahoo's webmail also has an anti-virus scanner, but it actually works! They accept .exe files, and they even scan and clean the files if they were found to be infected.

Why would Gmail even allow me to upload the entire exe file to its server for scanning, but not scan it since it was an exe.? The Gmail file uploader should be smart enough to disallow users from uploading files with extensions like exe, com, ocx, etc. This would save time for everyone, especially all users who are still using a dial up connection.

Google has no plans to stop blocking executables as attachments in Gmail, and they also haven't leaked any information as to who is providing the antivirus technology. Yahoo! Mail uses Symantec software to scan for viruses. Hotmail licenses its technology from Trend Micro. Why isn't Google saying which vendor is providing their antivirus technology?

Since you cannot turn off the Gmail antivirus scanning utility, you can use one of the following methods to send an executable program file (exe), and other blocked file formats in Gmail.

1. Rename the file. Change the file extension to fool the Gmail scanner. Example: rename update.zip to update.zib

Or rename the attachment to contain instructions for the recipient to property use it. For example: rename update.exe to update.exe.removeme

2. Use a free file hosting service like Rapidshare, Megaupload, or Yousendit to upload your file. Then email the link to the location of your uploaded file in the body of your Gmail message.

3. If you have lot of .exe files to send, put them in a zip file and change the extension of the zip file as mentioned in step one. Remember, Gmail denies zip attachments that contain exe files. Password protection won't work either since Gmail is able to examine .exe filenames even in password protected zipped file. s as the archived filename listings are not encrypted by the Zip program.

4. Use different compression software like WinRAR. It compresses files in .rar format which is not currently blocked by Google. There is a high probability that Gmail will not support .rar formats in future. So if you do send one be sure the recipient actually received it.

Important: I recommend using only the first technique since all others violate Google's terms and policies. If they do find out they could terminate your Gmail account completely.

Sending virus infected files with Gmail is against Google's terms of service policy. In some rare cases, If you need to mail an infected file for reporting purposes to an antivirus vendor, like the Symantec Security Response center, you can use any of the above techniques to bypass the virus scanner and attach infected files in your emails.

If you know of a tip or trick for sending attachments through Gmail that we did not list, please post your story in our comments section! Our avid readers will only benefit from your positive comments!

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Gmail, Tips & Tricks

Comments (13)

By Web Design USA posted on Wednesday, April 29, 2009 @ 10:17 PM

Even There are more ways to trick Google out to avoid the Spam Filter....

You can get back for more...

By First Home Buying posted on Friday, May 8, 2009 @ 7:16 AM

WinRAR is a great program and a .rar extension will, as you point out, let you get .exe archives past the Gmail scanners. When it comes to this type of file though, I usually just use my server space to store and/or transfer something like an .exe instead of emailing it as an attachment.

By Computer Backup Solutions posted on Friday, May 15, 2009 @ 8:09 AM

Many of these tricks will also work for other virus scanners. I have used the same steps, such as renaming the file, with other email systems without issue.

Renaming files is probably the easiest method, until they come up with a scanner that can determine if the file is an executable, regardless of the extension.

By blogger posted on Wednesday, June 3, 2009 @ 8:49 PM

this s a new trick i learnt from here, thanks for that

By Daniel posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 @ 4:48 AM

Thanks, but there is one disadvantage - zip packers work faster than WinRar one.

By Philly posted on Sunday, August 23, 2009 @ 4:39 PM

Awesome tricks! I wondered if there were ways around this. Glad you helped with my problem!

By Zen posted on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 @ 11:41 PM

Excellent tips for gmail users. Thanks for informing all those important facilities of gmail service and made my usage effective.

By Shuvayu posted on Thursday, September 17, 2009 @ 6:24 AM

Wow, this trick helps me a lot. I want to send some files to my friend. now I use this trick. Thanks

By Make Money Online posted on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 @ 12:27 AM

yes first method is best and safe and less time consuming,thanks

By lol posted on Sunday, November 8, 2009 @ 3:08 PM

I used the trick of renaming the extension (which in my book everyone should have learned when they were 11, max) and then i searched (whilst uploading "lol.png, a rough 50 mB's in size) for any other known tricks regarding google's mail service.

but i guess the trick everybody knows still works and has no substitute.

very funny these noobs that always make accounts everywhere with they're questions about the obvious.

By Brian Tech posted on Saturday, February 6, 2010 @ 10:42 AM

I don't even trust Gmail with scanning files, just to to virustotal.com and scan it with many scanners at once there, works wonders if you have suspicious files.

By usemeplz posted on Monday, April 4, 2011 @ 1:54 PM

The fact that Gmail does not accept files EXE me very much is always disappointing. It's always complicates the work. What was written in the article really works. For what thanks to its creators. I'm sure it will help many people as I do.

By Mikant posted on Sunday, November 13, 2011 @ 6:37 AM

to quickly send a *exe || *.dll file to gmail user I usually do so:
right-click on a file: "add to archive and send by e-mail" (I have WinRAR installed), on 'additional' tab - 'set password'. type for ex. 123 and click 'encrypt file names'. enter) and type recepient gmail address in my Windows Live Mail app). it takes about 10 seconds.