browsers mostly just need to sandbox websites, so websites cannot do any critical operations that would require AV supervision.
That's the way it ought to work. But it's so tempting to launch stuff from the browser, from Adobe Reader to Flash to Microsoft's "protocol types" which launch apps.
The proper role of antivirus programs is as a "guard". When you download a file, a program looks at it and decides if it should be allowed in. This at least gets rid of all those attack .zip files that show up in email attachments. It also has a well-defined interface with the application.
> But it's so tempting to launch stuff from the browser, from Adobe Reader to Flash to Microsoft's "protocol types" which launch apps.
The latter (MS protocol types) is not at all MS specific.
Let's list some well known examples:
- Apple's itms "protocol", itms:xxx opens either iTunes or the App Store, also on OS X (this is how "Download from Mac App store" works)
- MS Communicator/Skype for Business (one of them is the successor of the other, I always forget which one) uses this to start conferences after you installed the respective app
- Spotify does something even worse, the client appears to launch a http server, and e.g. when you log in to facebook on your browser, it supplies the used port to their oauth redirector - which in turn gives the auth token to Spotify via calling http://localhost:xxx/yyy.
- all major mail programs use the "mailto" protocol; the OS loads the user-defined MUA with options for pre-fill (body, subject, recipient(s))
It's a Lync client, according to Wikipedia. One of the customers of my company uses it.
The amount of different apps and solutions for teleconferences is just astounding. One might think that there is a common standard or something... but no, I have at least four distinct communication apps on my Mac. m(
That's the way it ought to work. But it's so tempting to launch stuff from the browser, from Adobe Reader to Flash to Microsoft's "protocol types" which launch apps.
The proper role of antivirus programs is as a "guard". When you download a file, a program looks at it and decides if it should be allowed in. This at least gets rid of all those attack .zip files that show up in email attachments. It also has a well-defined interface with the application.