If you can't trust your RAR extractor not to run executables
when it extracts (or just opens) a RAR archive, you might want to
look closer. There should be a way to tell it not to run such
things. Or maybe there's a better program.
Just looking at the list of files should be safe, as long as the
program providing the list doesn't do anything more, and as long
as your antivirus and firewall and other things are there providing
defense in depth. But if you still can't trust your program, I don't
blame you.
Obfuscated names is an issue, though I am very sympathetic to
those who don't want to attract attention from the copyright
police, and I also don't want to have the copyright police issue a takedown
notice a few days before I discover the post and try to download it.
(Yes it is hard to get a post removed from all of Usenet, but I only
use two or three providers, and with my luck they would be the ones
who have to comply.)
One thing you can use is reputation. If the poster is "yenc power poster" (or the
default name) and has been posting junk, there's an obvious conclusion. If the
poster has given herself a unique name (obviously not her real name or email)
and has posted good stuff in the past, that can lead to a different conclusion --
though caution is still appropriate, in case someone else is spoofing her name.
It would also be nice if people posting such things would give a few hints, e.g.
"private" (meaning it is not intended for everyone), "DE" (meaning it is in German
and those hoping for French need not download it), "NF" (meaning non-fiction, so
those looking for fiction can skip over it), and so forth. That would certainly make
things a bit more friendly without making it unduly easy for the copyright cops.
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