Cannot open attachments

[Courtney]

I cannot open doc attachments, I receive in Windows Mail.

Message states it does not have a program associated with it, for performing
this action. Create an association in the
set association control panel.

Please help, thank.

Courtney

 

[Oppie]

I've been getting that sometimes also. Seems to be some sort of security
issue. A good work-around is to save the attachment to some temporary folder
(I have a temp folder on my desktop that I use as a drop for all 'problem
files').The attachment can always be opened* once it is detatched and saved
elsewhere. (* as long as you have the program installed that is supposed to
open the file with the given extension)

I get this most commonly when trying to open a MP3 attachment. I have both
windows media 10 and Nero so there is no shortage of programs that have
already been assigned to open the attachment...just doesn't work. Have also
seen this on occasion with PDF files.

Oh, there is also a setting in the tools- options- Security tab (can't say
for sure right now since I'm not at a Vista machine) that enables opening
attachments. By default, attachments are disabled. the check box for
'download images' should be cleared. Hit apply and then OK.

Oppie

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

You left out a few pertinent details. Do you have an app installed that
will open DOC files, either Word or the free Word Viewer?
Does the error only happen when you try to open the attachment from
within Windows Mail, or does it also happen when you save the attachment,
and then double-click on the saved file?

 

[Guest]

Ms Mail was working fine but as of yesterdey, every time I try to open an
attachment (doc, pps, wmv, etc) I get a message stating MAIL HAS STOPPED
WORKING. Then it shuts down and reopens.

Any ideas?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

By any chance, are you running a non-compatible antivirus?
Windows Mail is not compatible with most McAfee and
Norton security programs. Those will need to be uninstalled,
not just disabled.

After uninstalling your non-compatible antivirus, download
and install a more compatible antivirus like the free Avast:
http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

Even compatible antivirus programs will need to have their
email scanning option turned off. For more on this topic see
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3

 

[Oppie]

That explains a lot. My new Vista machine (last February) came with McAfee
loaded and I could not make heads or tails of what was happening to messages
and rules (and I'm pretty savy). I finally removed McAfee entirely and opted
for the free AVG antivirus, windows Firewall and Widows Defender. So far,
the Pseudo-Suite is all good.
Oppie

By any chance, are you running a non-compatible antivirus?
Windows Mail is not compatible with most McAfee and Norton security
programs. Those will need to be uninstalled, not just disabled.

After uninstalling your non-compatible antivirus, download
and install a more compatible antivirus like the free Avast:
http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

Even compatible antivirus programs will need to have their
email scanning option turned off. For more on this topic see
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3
--
Gary VanderMolen [MS-MVP WLM]

Ms Mail was working fine but as of yesterdey, every time I try to open an
attachment (doc, pps, wmv, etc) I get a message stating MAIL HAS STOPPED
WORKING. Then it shuts down and reopens.

Any ideas?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

Thanks for your feedback.

--
Gary VanderMolen [MS-MVP WLM]

That explains a lot. My new Vista machine (last February) came with McAfee
loaded and I could not make heads or tails of what was happening to messages
and rules (and I'm pretty savy). I finally removed McAfee entirely and opted
for the free AVG antivirus, windows Firewall and Widows Defender. So far,
the Pseudo-Suite is all good.
Oppie

By any chance, are you running a non-compatible antivirus?
Windows Mail is not compatible with most McAfee and Norton security
programs. Those will need to be uninstalled, not just disabled.

After uninstalling your non-compatible antivirus, download
and install a more compatible antivirus like the free Avast:
http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

Even compatible antivirus programs will need to have their
email scanning option turned off. For more on this topic see
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3
--
Gary VanderMolen [MS-MVP WLM]

Ms Mail was working fine but as of yesterdey, every time I try to open an
attachment (doc, pps, wmv, etc) I get a message stating MAIL HAS STOPPED
WORKING. Then it shuts down and reopens.

Any ideas?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Oppie]

You're welcome.
Oh, and I recently added AVG's free root kit scaner.
All of AVG's free products are on this page:
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/29116/us/frt/0

As it says, it is basic protection. You want more bells and whistles, buy
the premium product.
Update with the free anti-virus is only once a week. I get in the habit of
manually checking every few days. The root kit scanner has to be manually
checked for updates (is not automatic).
Oppie

Thanks for your feedback.

--
Gary VanderMolen [MS-MVP WLM]

That explains a lot. My new Vista machine (last February) came with
McAfee loaded and I could not make heads or tails of what was happening
to messages and rules (and I'm pretty savy). I finally removed McAfee
entirely and opted for the free AVG antivirus, windows Firewall and
Widows Defender. So far, the Pseudo-Suite is all good.
Oppie

By any chance, are you running a non-compatible antivirus?
Windows Mail is not compatible with most McAfee and Norton security
programs. Those will need to be uninstalled, not just disabled.

After uninstalling your non-compatible antivirus, download
and install a more compatible antivirus like the free Avast:
http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

Even compatible antivirus programs will need to have their
email scanning option turned off. For more on this topic see
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3
--
Gary VanderMolen [MS-MVP WLM]


Ms Mail was working fine but as of yesterdey, every time I try to open
an attachment (doc, pps, wmv, etc) I get a message stating MAIL HAS
STOPPED WORKING. Then it shuts down and reopens.

Any ideas?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Don Pellegrino]

Ms Mail was working fine but as of yesterdey, every time I try to open an
attachment (doc, pps, wmv, etc) I get a message stating MAIL HAS STOPPED
WORKING. Then it shuts down and reopens.

I experienced this without opening a message that had an attachment. I was
drafting a reply to a message from this newsgroup, I then highlighted my
Inbox and the Data Execution Prevention (DEP) event restarted Windows Mail
and opened the Windows Help and Support dialog. Although DEP is weird
Microsoft terminology it seems like Vista detected a buffer overflow and
restarted the binary. In my scenario this is clearly a bug in Windows Mail.
As per my other posts it seems it is not possible to report bugs to
Microsoft so I don't know if anything can be done about it. Please post if
you discover anything more about this issue.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

It is not very likely that Windows Mail has a buffer overflow bug,
because yours is the first report I have seen about a DEP event
involving Windows Mail.
It is more likely that something else was running concurrently and
interacted with Windows Mail in a bad way.