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Why does firefox think .tif file is an executable?

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I recently switched from Chrome to Firefox. I need to be able to download TIF and PSD files from my clients. However Firefox thinks .tif file is an executable, which is incorrect. I receive this message: "Filename.tif is an executable file. Executable files may contain viruses or other malicious code that could harm your computer. Use caution when opening this file. are you sure you want to launch "Filename.tif"?" (Whereas filename.tif is just a generic version of the TIF filename.)

I download TIF and PSD files all day long for my job, and I need to able to open them from the browser. I want to be able to open the file, but I don't want to change settings for executables. What should I do?

I recently switched from Chrome to Firefox. I need to be able to download TIF and PSD files from my clients. However Firefox thinks .tif file is an executable, which is incorrect. I receive this message: "Filename.tif is an executable file. Executable files may contain viruses or other malicious code that could harm your computer. Use caution when opening this file. are you sure you want to launch "Filename.tif"?" (Whereas filename.tif is just a generic version of the TIF filename.) I download TIF and PSD files all day long for my job, and I need to able to open them from the browser. I want to be able to open the file, but I don't want to change settings for executables. What should I do?

Chosen solution

NM, I went to the site where I was getting the problematic downloads, and they now seem to be working. So perhaps there was some temporary glitch with the content-type. Thanks for your help everyone!

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All Replies (7)

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Doesn't it give you a open when you download to save or open it? if not you need to change your Options Settings so that option pops up when you click on the file.

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It does give me that option, but after saving I want to open the file, which should launch Photoshop. I can navigate to the location of the file using the Finder, but this is extra steps, and Firefox should just recognize it as an image file and tell the OS what to do, like Chrome does.

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With what content type is this file send by the server?

See also:

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I guess I don't know what content type the server is sending? I know that the unopenable TIF files are actual TIF files. But it looks like I can open some TIF files through the download window but not others, so maybe the content type is part of the problem...

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Does the TIF on this page trigger the Open option? It sends Content-Type "image/tiff".

http://www.alternatiff.com/testpage.html

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Thank you. That TIF does trigger the open option. How do I check the content-type for the other files or the site from which they came?

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Chosen Solution

NM, I went to the site where I was getting the problematic downloads, and they now seem to be working. So perhaps there was some temporary glitch with the content-type. Thanks for your help everyone!