eshep29536 2 years ago

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Please read the following carefully as the .zix file format is directly associated with an application containing adware/spyware.

The .zix file format is used by the WinZix application, which claims to compress data better than any other compression format. In reality however, the WinZix application also installs some adware on a users computer. Please note, the actual .zix file does NOT contain adware, the application that you use to open/create it does (WinZix).

The first version of WinZix simply added a tiny piece of data (also known as a header record) to the start of the original file, increasing a 100KB uncompressed file to 101KB. With WinZix version 2, files are compressed using an algorithm very similar to zip archives.

Unfortunately, more and more files are appearing on the Internet with the .zix extension. The reason for this is increase is likely to be down to a dedicated team working with the WinZix creators, uploading common files but with the .zix extension. This results in more people sharing .zix files and more people downloading the WinZix application without researching the software they're installing.

Once WinZix is installed on your computer, it can be rather difficult to completely remove, as uninstalling WinZix through your control panel will still leave the adware on your system. The adware process appears to cloak itself, describing itself as "iexplore.exe" (Internet Explorer).

Our advice is to not install the WinZix software.