Blocked Email Attachments

[Guest]

I've just bought a pc with Vista Home Premium and Windows Mail: I can get
Word attachments but not PDF.

Any suggestions of a fix to one very non-technical newcomer to this world of
IT?

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

I've just bought a pc with Vista Home Premium and Windows Mail: I can get
Word attachments but not PDF.

Any suggestions of a fix to one very non-technical newcomer to this world
of
IT?

Tools | Options | Security
Try unchecking "Do not allow ..." in the Virus Protection area.

 

[Guest]

Frank - thank you, unfortunately I tried that option before asking for help.
I'm now wondering if Norton could be the problem?

 

[Steve Cochran]

Yes. Either disable email scanning or uninstall it. See
www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3

steve

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

Frank - thank you, unfortunately I tried that option before asking for
help.
I'm now wondering if Norton could be the problem?

This is usually caused by an anti-spam program or an anti-virus set to scan
email.

Turn off email scanning in your anti-virus. It provides no added
protection. After doing so it may be necessary to reset the server names in
OE.

The Other E-Mail Threat: File Corruption in Outlook Express
Published: November 18, 2004
By Tom Koch
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/community/columns/filecorruption.mspx

Email scanning slows down Sending and Receiving, sometimes enough that OE
times out. Since some of the received messages have large (often virus)
attachments, which exasperates the problem.
Some Comcast users have found it necessary to totally uninstall Norton and
switch to the free AVG with mail scanning off. Norton invented email
scanning and here's what they say:

"Disabling Email Scanning does not leave you unprotected against viruses
that
are distributed as email attachments. Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect scans
incoming files as they are saved to your hard drive, including email and
email attachments. Email Scanning is just another layer on top of this. To
make sure that Auto-Protect is providing the maximum protection, keep
Auto-Protect enabled and run LiveUpdate regularly to ensure that you have
the most recent virus definitions."
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPOR...6d4e006aaa94/4ba5fc8ef939c44c88256c7500723cf0

"...your computer is protected if Auto-Protect is enabled. Auto-Protect
scans any incoming files, including email attachments, when the files are
saved to your hard drive."
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2001100907323806

"NAV provides multiple layers of protection. Email scanning is just one of
those layers. Even if you are not running Email Scanning, your computer is
protected against viruses that are distributed as email attachments by NAV
Auto-Protect. Auto-Protect will scan any incoming files, including email
attachments, as they are saved to your hard drive. To make sure that
Auto-Protect is providing the maximum protection, keep Auto-Protect enabled
and run LiveUpdate regularly to ensure that you have the most recent virus
definitions."
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPOR...85256edd00478dbd?OpenDocument&src=bar_sch_nam

See also
http://help.expedient.com/mailnews/norton_antivirus.shtml

So Symantec used to say this often and clearly. The newer stuff doesn't
have the statement included as it was considered an embarrassment. If you
know anyone who programs for Norton try to get them to talk about it.

 

[Guest]

I've had Norton Un-installed & pc re-booted, but my problem persists: no
email attachments coming through.

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

I've had Norton Un-installed & pc re-booted, but my problem persists: no
email attachments coming through.

Back to Tools | Options | Security
Uncheck "Block images and other external content in HTML messages", but be
aware that this compromises you privacy.

 

[Guest]

Frank, as it happens, this option was already un-checked as the default on my
laptop, so no progress there.

It seems to me that Windows Mail + Vista Home Premium maybe just does not
work?

Maybe I'd be better biting the bullet and seeing if I can afford to buy
Office Standard 2007 and getting Outlook and moving from the installed
Works8.5 software too?

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

I'm not sure what you mean by no email attachments coming through. Windows
Mail will download any attachment. If they are not downloading then
something besides Windows Mail is blocking them. It is possible for an ISP
to do this but more often it is an anti-virus scanning email. If the
attachment is downloading but not opening, can you save it to your hard
drive and optn it from there?

 

[Guest]

Frank

The email text appears as normal but there is no paper-clip icon to indicate
an attachment even though I know one was attached & sent. I can send emails
with attachments OK so it is only incoming attachments that do not appear.

I'll ask my incoming email people if it could be their server.

 

[Guest]

Frank, I got my husband to use my email account on his laptop (MS XP /
Outlook) and the test email came through with the attachment included i.e. it
worked normally. Meanwhhile, I've put a note out to my email host company
like you suggested.

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

Frank, I got my husband to use my email account on his laptop (MS XP /
Outlook) and the test email came through with the attachment included i.e.
it
worked normally. Meanwhhile, I've put a note out to my email host company
like you suggested.

While viewing such a message hold down the Ctrl key and press F3. Is the
attachment there after the message?

While viewing the message press File | Properties. How big is the message?

 

[Guest]

Frank, the message says it is 2114Kb which must include the attachment, so
looking into the message further like you suggested I can see a load of
'nonesense' text. Also, my husband has gone onto the account in Orange (ISP)
and the test attachment he sent to me is there but as a "winmail.dat" rather
than NAME.doc. Sounds like we are getting somewhere?

 

[Guest]

Giselle/Frank--I seem to be having the exact same problem. I'm getting some
emails coming through with attachments and others just come through without
(even though I know they had an attachment). I had my client cc my wife's
laptop and resend and she recieved the attachment and I didn't. But...my
wife then forwarded that message to me and the attachment came through. I
too just bought a new pc with Vista and Windows mail. I think it's strange
to be having the exact same issue. I've turned off the security settings and
McAfee Security for the email, which came with it, but am still concerned
that that isn't the issue, since it allowed the attachment one time but not
in an earlier email.

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

Frank, the message says it is 2114Kb which must include the attachment, so
looking into the message further like you suggested I can see a load of
'nonesense' text. Also, my husband has gone onto the account in Orange
(ISP)
and the test attachment he sent to me is there but as a "winmail.dat"
rather
than NAME.doc. Sounds like we are getting somewhere?

Aha!!!

I would bet money that the message was sent from Outlook (not Outlook
Express) using Outlook's RTF format. WinMail will never be able to find the
attachment. Ask the sender to please send it again using Plain Text instead
of RTF. If they're on a corporate network the network's Exchange Server
might still change it to RTF and WinMail won't be able to handle it.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Frank. This not a new client and I've received emails from her before
without an issue (before I bought the new pc with Vista and WinMail over the
weekend). Is this specifically a WinMail issue, and if so, isn't the idea to
make emailing better, not more complicated, as systems get upgraded? I would
think this would have to be a WinMail thing since my wife's laptop has good
old Outlook and she got the attachments then could forward on to me. Very
confusing.

Jim

 

[Guest]

One more thing--I just tried to email an attachment from my wife's laptop
using RTF and it came through fine. One thing I didn't mention was that
McAfee security came with the pc. I ended up disabling the email and spam
features to see if that would make a difference. I guess I really won't know
until a client says they emailed an attachment and no paper clip shows up...

Jim

 

[Steve Cochran]

If you get a winmail.dat attachment, that means the user sent that from
Outlook using RTF format and its not interpretable by WinMail.

HTML format is okay, but NOT RTF format.

steve

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

While looking at the message press Ctrl-F3. One of the parts of the message
will have content
Content Type: ms-tnef
as part of the header for that part. That means it was sent from Outlook
using RTF. This can ONLY be translated by Outlook or another Exchange
program. Not Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail Desktop,
Eudora, or any other mail program I've heard of.

 

[Guest]

I'd like to jump in here on a tangentially related subject. I understand that
exchange based email clients are the only ones that understand TNEF. I am
trying to send to recipients who will be using outlook express. I am using
outlook 2000 on an exchange server.

I am following the instructions on MS KB #241538, setting globally to plain
text or HTML does not change it, setting per message to plain text or HTML
does not change it. The KB referenced also has a per recipient method. I do
not see any such checkbox when I follow the instructions.

Any help is appreciated.