In
Marv Wade said:
I received an email from a friend with two files attached. I
know
what the contents of the two files is but Outlook Express
displays a
message that OE blocked access to one of the files as being
unsafe. Is there some setting that I can use to allow this one
attachment to
be received?
Starting with SP1, Outlook Express does this by default, for any
file type which *can* contain a virus. It's not a virus checker,
doesn't actually check the attachments, and this doesn't mean
that there actually is a virus there.
Such attachments *are* very risky. You often see advice not to
open attachments from people you don't know. I think that that's
one of the most dangerous pieces of advice you see around,
because it implies that it's safe to do the opposite--open
attachments from friends and relatives. But many viruses spread
by sending themselves to everyone in the infected party's address
book, so attachments received from friends are perhaps the *most*
risky to open.
Personally I think what Outlook Express does is good; I never
open executable attachments at all, except from a *very* few
trusted sources, and then only when I'm expecting them. But if
you want to remove this safeguard, it's easy to do so: go to
Tools | Options, and on the security tab, uncheck "Do not allow
attachments..."
