Extract text from renamed archives or executables (EFW)
To convert EFW renamed files to another format, you need Computer Associates Antivirus or other Executable software.
To convert other file formats to the "Quarantined File" file type, you need software like Computer Associates Antivirus or a similar tool.
The .EFW file is a renamed ZIP archive or EXE executable file, primarily associated with legacy security software from Computer Associates. Antivirus and security programs often rename suspicious or quarantined files to prevent them from executing automatically on the operating system.
These files are typically generated by older enterprise security suites. You can inspect them using robust archive utilities like 7-Zip if they are archives, or text viewers if you need to read string data.
The main disadvantage of an .EFW file is that the operating system does not know what to do with it. Because the original extension is stripped, users cannot double-click to open it. Furthermore, if it contains quarantined malware, renaming it back to EXE poses a massive security risk to your system. If it is a renamed ZIP file, standard extraction tools will simply ignore it until the extension is manually changed.
The best action is to identify the true underlying format. If it is an archive, renaming it to ZIP allows you to safely extract the contents. If you need to analyze the code safely, converting the strings to TXT is recommended.
Because .EFW is an obfuscated format designed to break file association, standard online converters fail to process it. Often, only the original security software knows exactly how to restore the file. Our engine inspects the binary header, detects if the underlying structure is a standard ZIP archive or executable, and allows you to safely view the embedded content without risking an infection.
Convert.Guru analyzes your EFW file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted EFFW, PGP, SDA and SLF files.
If you want to convert EFW file to ZIP, RAR, 7Z, TAR, GZ, BZ2, XZ, LZMA, CAB, ACE, ARJ or LHA, you can use Computer Associates Antivirus or similar software from the "Quarantine Archive or Executable" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert XXE, 7Z, Z, PAK, LHA, DEB, UUE, TAR, LZH, ZIP, PKG or RAR files to EFW, try Computer Associates Antivirus or another comparable tool in the "Quarantine Archive or Executable" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our EFW converter.