Can not open attachments in Windows Mail

[Peter]

Recently I can not open attachments in Windows Mail. I'll get the message
C:\Windows\System32\xxx.xls or xxx.doc can not be found
How can I solve this problem, in the past I did not have this problem....

 

[Rainald Taesler]

Recently I can not open attachments in Windows Mail. I'll get the
message C:\Windows\System32\xxx.xls or xxx.doc can not be found

Welcome to the Club!
After having installed IE8 you get bitten by the IE8-WinMail bug which
affects quite some systems (not the majority). Searching in this group
with "attachment" tons of postings on the problem will pile up :-( :-(
So far the exact reasons (what does the install of IE8 that causes the
problem) are unknown.

How can I solve this problem, in the past I did not have this
problem....

As the reasons are unknown, there is no fix to cure the problem - except
uninstalling IE8.

The problems can be reduced to JPG and TXT files (all other files types
opening fine with a workaround):
Right-click on the shortcut that you use to open Windows Mail.
Select Properties. In the field labeled 'Start in' change the entered
value to %UserProfile%.
Click OK.
Restart Windows Mail and try opening attachments.

JPGs and TXTs can be opened after saving. All other attachments will
open fine.

Pls report back.

Rainald

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

WinMail: Tools | Options | Security | Block images... <=if you
disable/uncheck this option, does the behavior persist?

Have you installed IE8?

What anti-virus application or security suite is installed, is your
subscription current, and is it supported in IE8? What anti-spyware
applications (other than Defender)? What third-party firewall (if any)?
Were any of these applications running in the background when you installed
IE8?

Has a Norton or McAfee application ever been installed on this machine
(e.g., a free-trial version that came preinstalled when you bought it)?

Do you have an available Restore Point which predates the install of IE8?
<=Just asking for now!!

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

The error message is classic for the IE8 issue.

 

[Rainald Taesler]

The error message is classic for the IE8 issue.

Exactly!!
And no AntiVirus issues involved.

Rainald

 

[z1Barry]

Exactly!!
And no AntiVirus issues involved.

Rainald




- Show quoted text -

I can confirm for the second time that the occurrence of this bug on
my systems is not connected to security software. When I first
installed IE8 on my old Vista x64 system, I deactivated my antivirus
software first (Avast) as I normally do with any significant software
installation. As many others have reported, I also had the on again
off again intermittent Vista email problem when opening JPG
attachments.

Recently, I finished doing a clean install of Vista x64 SP1 on a new
system. I then applied all the outstanding Vista updates via windows
update (except SP2). At this point I was still using IE7 and had no
Vista email attachment problems. Yesterday I upgraded to IE8 and bingo
the problem has returned. Please note that I have NOT installed any
security software yet. Windows Defender is the only thing running on
my system at this time.

 

[Peter Foldes]

Gary

What I found with experimenting and testing on this issue

Going from the original install of IE6 then up to IE7 then to IE8 attachments open
Original install with IE7 ( no IE6 )and then going to IE8 attachments will not open

In other words if a person started with IE6 and then Upgraded to IE8 directly or
with IE7 in between there is no problem in opening attachments

If the OS was installed with IE7 and then Upgraded to IE8 there is a problem

--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.

The error message is classic for the IE8 issue.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

Thanks for that confirmation regarding IE8 being the culprit.

--
Gary VanderMolen, MS-MVP (Mail)

Exactly!!
And no AntiVirus issues involved.

Rainald




- Show quoted text -

I can confirm for the second time that the occurrence of this bug on
my systems is not connected to security software. When I first
installed IE8 on my old Vista x64 system, I deactivated my antivirus
software first (Avast) as I normally do with any significant software
installation. As many others have reported, I also had the on again
off again intermittent Vista email problem when opening JPG
attachments.

Recently, I finished doing a clean install of Vista x64 SP1 on a new
system. I then applied all the outstanding Vista updates via windows
update (except SP2). At this point I was still using IE7 and had no
Vista email attachment problems. Yesterday I upgraded to IE8 and bingo
the problem has returned. Please note that I have NOT installed any
security software yet. Windows Defender is the only thing running on
my system at this time.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

Interesting observation, Peter. Now if we only knew what is different about
having had IE6 installed in the past.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Gary, with all due respect, IE8 is NOT the culprit here. Installing IE8
without having first disabled all real-time "system protections" (e.g.,
anti-virus; anti-spware; third-party firewall) is.

 

[z1Barry]

Gary, with all due respect, IE8 is NOT the culprit here.  Installing IE8
without having first disabled all real-time "system protections" (e.g.,
anti-virus; anti-spware; third-party firewall) is.

Total nonsense Mr Dyer..so now you are blaming Windows Defender ??
That's a change from your previous canned responses. Wakeup and smell
the coffee. Its an obvious issue affecting Vista Mail after the
install of IE8. Common sense and decades of experience as a software
professional tell me that you are giving out very bad advice in the
dozens and dozens of threads that have addressed this issue.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

I disagree. I've had several people tell me that they did fresh
Vista installs, and with *no* third party security software installed,
yet as soon as they installed IE8 the problem with attachments began.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

I did NOT mention Windows Defender. In fact, that's the one real-time
protection you needn't disable.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

[crosspost to IE General & Windows Update newsgroups]

I'd have to question the veracity of such claims myself; e.g., Did they do a
clean install or a Repair Install? Did they install SP1 or SP2 *and* IE8
during the same session? Did they use the OEM CDs that came with their
computer or the hidden Recovery partition to reinstall Vista, both of which
would have reinstalled the free-trial AV app or security suite that came
preinstalled when they bought it?

We learned this the hard way back when IE6 SP1 was "pushed" to Win9.x
machines via Windows Update. Thousands of users ended up with a horked
install because they'd failed to disable their anti-virus application.
(There weren't any anti-spyware apps back then! <wink>) cf.
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion/msg/fadd6a73c471dd7f
&ff

We re-learned this the hard way when IE7 was released to WinXP in Oct-06.
See Sandi's IE7 Installation Tips page:
http://www.ie-vista.com/known_issues.html#pre-install (ignore any references
to Vista).

There's not a doubt in my mind that we'll have to re-learn this again when
IE9 is released.

Now, I'm NOT saying that all anti-virus and/or anti-spyware applications
and/or third-party firewalls cause such troubles when installing an IE
upgrade but IMHO you're better off being overly-cautious than not cautious
enough when it comes to installing an IE upgrade *and* a Windows Service
Pack.

NB: As I've frequently posted in these newsgroups, Windows Defender is the
one anti-spyware application you do not need to disable prior to installing
or uninstalling IE8 (and IE9, when it's released).

IMHO you're doing your OPs a disservice by placing the blame solely on IE8.
The vast majority of Windows users who had disabled these real-time
protections before installing IE8 have not encountered any issues with
opening attachments in any Mail Client (i.e., Windows Mail; Windows Live
Mail; Outlook Express; Thunderbird; and MSN Mail).

 

[JS]

"Windows Defender is the one anti-spyware
application you do not need to disable prior to installing
or uninstalling IE8 (and IE9, when it's released)."

That's because Microsoft does not have a vigorous
"Integration Testing" plan!

--
JS
http://www.pagestart.com

[crosspost to IE General & Windows Update newsgroups]

I'd have to question the veracity of such claims myself; e.g., Did they do
a clean install or a Repair Install? Did they install SP1 or SP2 *and*
IE8 during the same session? Did they use the OEM CDs that came with
their computer or the hidden Recovery partition to reinstall Vista, both
of which would have reinstalled the free-trial AV app or security suite
that came preinstalled when they bought it?

We learned this the hard way back when IE6 SP1 was "pushed" to Win9.x
machines via Windows Update. Thousands of users ended up with a horked
install because they'd failed to disable their anti-virus application.
(There weren't any anti-spyware apps back then! <wink>) cf.
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion/msg/fadd6a73c471dd7f
&ff

We re-learned this the hard way when IE7 was released to WinXP in Oct-06.
See Sandi's IE7 Installation Tips page:
http://www.ie-vista.com/known_issues.html#pre-install (ignore any
references to Vista).

There's not a doubt in my mind that we'll have to re-learn this again when
IE9 is released.

Now, I'm NOT saying that all anti-virus and/or anti-spyware applications
and/or third-party firewalls cause such troubles when installing an IE
upgrade but IMHO you're better off being overly-cautious than not cautious
enough when it comes to installing an IE upgrade *and* a Windows Service
Pack.

NB: As I've frequently posted in these newsgroups, Windows Defender is the
one anti-spyware application you do not need to disable prior to
installing or uninstalling IE8 (and IE9, when it's released).

IMHO you're doing your OPs a disservice by placing the blame solely on
IE8. The vast majority of Windows users who had disabled these real-time
protections before installing IE8 have not encountered any issues with
opening attachments in any Mail Client (i.e., Windows Mail; Windows Live
Mail; Outlook Express; Thunderbird; and MSN Mail).
--
~Robear

I disagree. I've had several people tell me that they did fresh
Vista installs, and with *no* third party security software installed,
yet as soon as they installed IE8 the problem with attachments began.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Wrong.

"Windows Defender is the one anti-spyware
application you do not need to disable prior to installing
or uninstalling IE8 (and IE9, when it's released)."

That's because Microsoft does not have a vigorous
"Integration Testing" plan!

[crosspost to IE General & Windows Update newsgroups]

I'd have to question the veracity of such claims myself; e.g., Did they
do
a clean install or a Repair Install? Did they install SP1 or SP2 *and*
IE8 during the same session? Did they use the OEM CDs that came with
their computer or the hidden Recovery partition to reinstall Vista, both
of which would have reinstalled the free-trial AV app or security suite
that came preinstalled when they bought it?

We learned this the hard way back when IE6 SP1 was "pushed" to Win9.x
machines via Windows Update. Thousands of users ended up with a horked
install because they'd failed to disable their anti-virus application.
(There weren't any anti-spyware apps back then! <wink>) cf.
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion/msg/fadd6a73c471dd7f
&ff

We re-learned this the hard way when IE7 was released to WinXP in Oct-06.
See Sandi's IE7 Installation Tips page:
http://www.ie-vista.com/known_issues.html#pre-install (ignore any
references to Vista).

There's not a doubt in my mind that we'll have to re-learn this again
when
IE9 is released.

Now, I'm NOT saying that all anti-virus and/or anti-spyware applications
and/or third-party firewalls cause such troubles when installing an IE
upgrade but IMHO you're better off being overly-cautious than not
cautious
enough when it comes to installing an IE upgrade *and* a Windows Service
Pack.

NB: As I've frequently posted in these newsgroups, Windows Defender is
the
one anti-spyware application you do not need to disable prior to
installing or uninstalling IE8 (and IE9, when it's released).

IMHO you're doing your OPs a disservice by placing the blame solely on
IE8. The vast majority of Windows users who had disabled these real-time
protections before installing IE8 have not encountered any issues with
opening attachments in any Mail Client (i.e., Windows Mail; Windows Live
Mail; Outlook Express; Thunderbird; and MSN Mail).
--
~Robear

I disagree. I've had several people tell me that they did fresh
Vista installs, and with *no* third party security software installed,
yet as soon as they installed IE8 the problem with attachments began.

Gary, with all due respect, IE8 is NOT the culprit here. Installing
IE8
without having first disabled all real-time "system protections" (e.g.,
anti-virus; anti-spware; third-party firewall) is.
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002

Gary VanderMolen wrote:
Thanks for that confirmation regarding IE8 being the culprit.


Gary VanderMolen schrieb:

The error message is classic for the IE8 issue.

Exactly!!
And no AntiVirus issues involved.

Rainald



WinMail: Tools | Options | Security | Block images... <=if you
disable/uncheck this option, does the behavior persist?

Have you installed IE8?

What anti-virus application or security suite is installed, is your
subscription current, and is it supported in IE8? What anti-spyware
applications (other than Defender)? What third-party firewall (if
any)? Were any of these applications running in the background when
you installed IE8?

Has a Norton or McAfee application ever been installed on this
machine (e.g., a free-trial version that came preinstalled when you
bought it)?

Do you have an available Restore Point which predates the install
of
IE8? <=Just asking for now!!
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002

Peter wrote:
Recently I can not open attachments in Windows Mail. I'll get the
message C:\Windows\System32\xxx.xls or xxx.doc can not be found
How can I solve this problem, in the past I did not have this
problem....- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I can confirm for the second time that the occurrence of this bug on
my systems is not connected to security software. When I first
installed IE8 on my old Vista x64 system, I deactivated my antivirus
software first (Avast) as I normally do with any significant software
installation. As many others have reported, I also had the on again
off again intermittent Vista email problem when opening JPG
attachments.

Recently, I finished doing a clean install of Vista x64 SP1 on a new
system. I then applied all the outstanding Vista updates via windows
update (except SP2). At this point I was still using IE7 and had no
Vista email attachment problems. Yesterday I upgraded to IE8 and bingo
the problem has returned. Please note that I have NOT installed any
security software yet. Windows Defender is the only thing running on
my system at this time.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

Why is it a disservice to suggest that the OP should uninstall IE8?
Even if your theory is correct, it would require uninstalling the
corrupted IE8 installation.

--
Gary VanderMolen, MS-MVP (Mail)

[crosspost to IE General & Windows Update newsgroups]

I'd have to question the veracity of such claims myself; e.g., Did they do a
clean install or a Repair Install? Did they install SP1 or SP2 *and* IE8
during the same session? Did they use the OEM CDs that came with their
computer or the hidden Recovery partition to reinstall Vista, both of which
would have reinstalled the free-trial AV app or security suite that came
preinstalled when they bought it?

We learned this the hard way back when IE6 SP1 was "pushed" to Win9.x
machines via Windows Update. Thousands of users ended up with a horked
install because they'd failed to disable their anti-virus application.
(There weren't any anti-spyware apps back then! <wink>) cf.
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion/msg/fadd6a73c471dd7f
&ff

We re-learned this the hard way when IE7 was released to WinXP in Oct-06.
See Sandi's IE7 Installation Tips page:
http://www.ie-vista.com/known_issues.html#pre-install (ignore any references
to Vista).

There's not a doubt in my mind that we'll have to re-learn this again when
IE9 is released.

Now, I'm NOT saying that all anti-virus and/or anti-spyware applications
and/or third-party firewalls cause such troubles when installing an IE
upgrade but IMHO you're better off being overly-cautious than not cautious
enough when it comes to installing an IE upgrade *and* a Windows Service
Pack.

NB: As I've frequently posted in these newsgroups, Windows Defender is the
one anti-spyware application you do not need to disable prior to installing
or uninstalling IE8 (and IE9, when it's released).

IMHO you're doing your OPs a disservice by placing the blame solely on IE8.
The vast majority of Windows users who had disabled these real-time
protections before installing IE8 have not encountered any issues with
opening attachments in any Mail Client (i.e., Windows Mail; Windows Live
Mail; Outlook Express; Thunderbird; and MSN Mail).
--
~Robear

I disagree. I've had several people tell me that they did fresh
Vista installs, and with *no* third party security software installed,
yet as soon as they installed IE8 the problem with attachments began.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

I just wish Microsoft would get interested enough in this problem
to do some vigorous and definitive testing, followed by a
suitable Knowledge Base article describing the appropriate fix.

--
Gary VanderMolen, MS-MVP (Mail)

Wrong.

"Windows Defender is the one anti-spyware
application you do not need to disable prior to installing
or uninstalling IE8 (and IE9, when it's released)."

That's because Microsoft does not have a vigorous
"Integration Testing" plan!

[crosspost to IE General & Windows Update newsgroups]

I'd have to question the veracity of such claims myself; e.g., Did they
do
a clean install or a Repair Install? Did they install SP1 or SP2 *and*
IE8 during the same session? Did they use the OEM CDs that came with
their computer or the hidden Recovery partition to reinstall Vista, both
of which would have reinstalled the free-trial AV app or security suite
that came preinstalled when they bought it?

We learned this the hard way back when IE6 SP1 was "pushed" to Win9.x
machines via Windows Update. Thousands of users ended up with a horked
install because they'd failed to disable their anti-virus application.
(There weren't any anti-spyware apps back then! <wink>) cf.
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion/msg/fadd6a73c471dd7f
&ff

We re-learned this the hard way when IE7 was released to WinXP in Oct-06.
See Sandi's IE7 Installation Tips page:
http://www.ie-vista.com/known_issues.html#pre-install (ignore any
references to Vista).

There's not a doubt in my mind that we'll have to re-learn this again
when
IE9 is released.

Now, I'm NOT saying that all anti-virus and/or anti-spyware applications
and/or third-party firewalls cause such troubles when installing an IE
upgrade but IMHO you're better off being overly-cautious than not
cautious
enough when it comes to installing an IE upgrade *and* a Windows Service
Pack.

NB: As I've frequently posted in these newsgroups, Windows Defender is
the
one anti-spyware application you do not need to disable prior to
installing or uninstalling IE8 (and IE9, when it's released).

IMHO you're doing your OPs a disservice by placing the blame solely on
IE8. The vast majority of Windows users who had disabled these real-time
protections before installing IE8 have not encountered any issues with
opening attachments in any Mail Client (i.e., Windows Mail; Windows Live
Mail; Outlook Express; Thunderbird; and MSN Mail).
--
~Robear


Gary VanderMolen wrote:
I disagree. I've had several people tell me that they did fresh
Vista installs, and with *no* third party security software installed,
yet as soon as they installed IE8 the problem with attachments began.

Gary, with all due respect, IE8 is NOT the culprit here. Installing
IE8
without having first disabled all real-time "system protections" (e.g.,
anti-virus; anti-spware; third-party firewall) is.
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002

Gary VanderMolen wrote:
Thanks for that confirmation regarding IE8 being the culprit.


Gary VanderMolen schrieb:

The error message is classic for the IE8 issue.

Exactly!!
And no AntiVirus issues involved.

Rainald



WinMail: Tools | Options | Security | Block images... <=if you
disable/uncheck this option, does the behavior persist?

Have you installed IE8?

What anti-virus application or security suite is installed, is your
subscription current, and is it supported in IE8? What anti-spyware
applications (other than Defender)? What third-party firewall (if
any)? Were any of these applications running in the background when
you installed IE8?

Has a Norton or McAfee application ever been installed on this
machine (e.g., a free-trial version that came preinstalled when you
bought it)?

Do you have an available Restore Point which predates the install
of
IE8? <=Just asking for now!!
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002

Peter wrote:
Recently I can not open attachments in Windows Mail. I'll get the
message C:\Windows\System32\xxx.xls or xxx.doc can not be found
How can I solve this problem, in the past I did not have this
problem....- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I can confirm for the second time that the occurrence of this bug on
my systems is not connected to security software. When I first
installed IE8 on my old Vista x64 system, I deactivated my antivirus
software first (Avast) as I normally do with any significant software
installation. As many others have reported, I also had the on again
off again intermittent Vista email problem when opening JPG
attachments.

Recently, I finished doing a clean install of Vista x64 SP1 on a new
system. I then applied all the outstanding Vista updates via windows
update (except SP2). At this point I was still using IE7 and had no
Vista email attachment problems. Yesterday I upgraded to IE8 and bingo
the problem has returned. Please note that I have NOT installed any
security software yet. Windows Defender is the only thing running on
my system at this time.

 

[JS]

Then tell me why it's OK to leave Defender on
and risky to not turn other AV software off.

I'm not bashing Microsoft but they full well know who
the major players are in the AV world and need to
take this into consideration instead of just using Defender
as a baseline to perform a suite of tests prior to Patch Tuesday
or other updates.

--
JS
http://www.pagestart.com

Wrong.

"Windows Defender is the one anti-spyware
application you do not need to disable prior to installing
or uninstalling IE8 (and IE9, when it's released)."

That's because Microsoft does not have a vigorous
"Integration Testing" plan!

[crosspost to IE General & Windows Update newsgroups]

I'd have to question the veracity of such claims myself; e.g., Did they
do
a clean install or a Repair Install? Did they install SP1 or SP2 *and*
IE8 during the same session? Did they use the OEM CDs that came with
their computer or the hidden Recovery partition to reinstall Vista, both
of which would have reinstalled the free-trial AV app or security suite
that came preinstalled when they bought it?

We learned this the hard way back when IE6 SP1 was "pushed" to Win9.x
machines via Windows Update. Thousands of users ended up with a horked
install because they'd failed to disable their anti-virus application.
(There weren't any anti-spyware apps back then! <wink>) cf.
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion/msg/fadd6a73c471dd7f
&ff

We re-learned this the hard way when IE7 was released to WinXP in
Oct-06.
See Sandi's IE7 Installation Tips page:
http://www.ie-vista.com/known_issues.html#pre-install (ignore any
references to Vista).

There's not a doubt in my mind that we'll have to re-learn this again
when
IE9 is released.

Now, I'm NOT saying that all anti-virus and/or anti-spyware applications
and/or third-party firewalls cause such troubles when installing an IE
upgrade but IMHO you're better off being overly-cautious than not
cautious
enough when it comes to installing an IE upgrade *and* a Windows Service
Pack.

NB: As I've frequently posted in these newsgroups, Windows Defender is
the
one anti-spyware application you do not need to disable prior to
installing or uninstalling IE8 (and IE9, when it's released).

IMHO you're doing your OPs a disservice by placing the blame solely on
IE8. The vast majority of Windows users who had disabled these real-time
protections before installing IE8 have not encountered any issues with
opening attachments in any Mail Client (i.e., Windows Mail; Windows Live
Mail; Outlook Express; Thunderbird; and MSN Mail).
--
~Robear


Gary VanderMolen wrote:
I disagree. I've had several people tell me that they did fresh
Vista installs, and with *no* third party security software installed,
yet as soon as they installed IE8 the problem with attachments began.

Gary, with all due respect, IE8 is NOT the culprit here. Installing
IE8
without having first disabled all real-time "system protections"
(e.g.,
anti-virus; anti-spware; third-party firewall) is.
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002

Gary VanderMolen wrote:
Thanks for that confirmation regarding IE8 being the culprit.


Gary VanderMolen schrieb:

The error message is classic for the IE8 issue.

Exactly!!
And no AntiVirus issues involved.

Rainald



WinMail: Tools | Options | Security | Block images... <=if you
disable/uncheck this option, does the behavior persist?

Have you installed IE8?

What anti-virus application or security suite is installed, is
your
subscription current, and is it supported in IE8? What
anti-spyware
applications (other than Defender)? What third-party firewall (if
any)? Were any of these applications running in the background
when
you installed IE8?

Has a Norton or McAfee application ever been installed on this
machine (e.g., a free-trial version that came preinstalled when
you
bought it)?

Do you have an available Restore Point which predates the install
of
IE8? <=Just asking for now!!
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002

Peter wrote:
Recently I can not open attachments in Windows Mail. I'll get the
message C:\Windows\System32\xxx.xls or xxx.doc can not be found
How can I solve this problem, in the past I did not have this
problem....- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I can confirm for the second time that the occurrence of this bug on
my systems is not connected to security software. When I first
installed IE8 on my old Vista x64 system, I deactivated my antivirus
software first (Avast) as I normally do with any significant software
installation. As many others have reported, I also had the on again
off again intermittent Vista email problem when opening JPG
attachments.

Recently, I finished doing a clean install of Vista x64 SP1 on a new
system. I then applied all the outstanding Vista updates via windows
update (except SP2). At this point I was still using IE7 and had no
Vista email attachment problems. Yesterday I upgraded to IE8 and
bingo
the problem has returned. Please note that I have NOT installed any
security software yet. Windows Defender is the only thing running on
my system at this time.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

In many instances, uninstalling IE8 has not corrected the problem...most
likely due to the fact that the same real-time protections that had not been
enabled prior to installing IE8 also were not disabled prior to uninstalling
it. (Even worse is when users don't uninstall IE8 but use System Restore in
its stead.)

Why is it a disservice to suggest that the OP should uninstall IE8?
Even if your theory is correct, it would require uninstalling the
corrupted IE8 installation.

[crosspost to IE General & Windows Update newsgroups]

I'd have to question the veracity of such claims myself; e.g., Did they
do
a clean install or a Repair Install? Did they install SP1 or SP2 *and*
IE8
during the same session? Did they use the OEM CDs that came with their
computer or the hidden Recovery partition to reinstall Vista, both of
which
would have reinstalled the free-trial AV app or security suite that came
preinstalled when they bought it?

We learned this the hard way back when IE6 SP1 was "pushed" to Win9.x
machines via Windows Update. Thousands of users ended up with a horked
install because they'd failed to disable their anti-virus application.
(There weren't any anti-spyware apps back then! <wink>) cf.
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion/msg/fadd6a73c471dd7f
&ff

We re-learned this the hard way when IE7 was released to WinXP in Oct-06.
See Sandi's IE7 Installation Tips page:
http://www.ie-vista.com/known_issues.html#pre-install (ignore any
references to Vista).

There's not a doubt in my mind that we'll have to re-learn this again
when
IE9 is released.

Now, I'm NOT saying that all anti-virus and/or anti-spyware applications
and/or third-party firewalls cause such troubles when installing an IE
upgrade but IMHO you're better off being overly-cautious than not
cautious
enough when it comes to installing an IE upgrade *and* a Windows Service
Pack.

NB: As I've frequently posted in these newsgroups, Windows Defender is
the
one anti-spyware application you do not need to disable prior to
installing
or uninstalling IE8 (and IE9, when it's released).

IMHO you're doing your OPs a disservice by placing the blame solely on
IE8.
The vast majority of Windows users who had disabled these real-time
protections before installing IE8 have not encountered any issues with
opening attachments in any Mail Client (i.e., Windows Mail; Windows Live
Mail; Outlook Express; Thunderbird; and MSN Mail).
--
~Robear

I disagree. I've had several people tell me that they did fresh
Vista installs, and with *no* third party security software installed,
yet as soon as they installed IE8 the problem with attachments began.

Gary, with all due respect, IE8 is NOT the culprit here. Installing
IE8
without having first disabled all real-time "system protections" (e.g.,
anti-virus; anti-spware; third-party firewall) is.
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002

Gary VanderMolen wrote:
Thanks for that confirmation regarding IE8 being the culprit.


Gary VanderMolen schrieb:

The error message is classic for the IE8 issue.

Exactly!!
And no AntiVirus issues involved.

Rainald



WinMail: Tools | Options | Security | Block images... <=if you
disable/uncheck this option, does the behavior persist?

Have you installed IE8?

What anti-virus application or security suite is installed, is your
subscription current, and is it supported in IE8? What anti-spyware
applications (other than Defender)? What third-party firewall (if
any)? Were any of these applications running in the background when
you installed IE8?

Has a Norton or McAfee application ever been installed on this
machine (e.g., a free-trial version that came preinstalled when you
bought it)?

Do you have an available Restore Point which predates the install
of
IE8? <=Just asking for now!!
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002

Peter wrote:
Recently I can not open attachments in Windows Mail. I'll get the
message C:\Windows\System32\xxx.xls or xxx.doc can not be found
How can I solve this problem, in the past I did not have this
problem....- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I can confirm for the second time that the occurrence of this bug on
my systems is not connected to security software. When I first
installed IE8 on my old Vista x64 system, I deactivated my antivirus
software first (Avast) as I normally do with any significant software
installation. As many others have reported, I also had the on again
off again intermittent Vista email problem when opening JPG
attachments.

Recently, I finished doing a clean install of Vista x64 SP1 on a new
system. I then applied all the outstanding Vista updates via windows
update (except SP2). At this point I was still using IE7 and had no
Vista email attachment problems. Yesterday I upgraded to IE8 and bingo
the problem has returned. Please note that I have NOT installed any
security software yet. Windows Defender is the only thing running on
my system at this time.