John said:
With XP HE I have an e-mail attachment that will not display because
the file extension is pps. The error message says go to Folder
Options Control Panel. How do I get there? Thanks.
That's a terrible, misleading message, in my opinion. It tells you to set
the association for pps files, but that is almost certainly not what your
problem is. Your problem is that you don't have an appropriate program
installed to open pps files. If you had one, the association almost
certainly would be there correctly.
The file is a PowerPoint slide slow. To open this file you either need
PowerPoint installed, or some compatible
program, including the free Microsoft PowerPoint viewer. Assuming that you
do not have PowerPoint installed you can download the free PowerPoint viewer
from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...27-43ab-4f24-90b7-a94784af71a4&displaylang=en
or
http://tinyurl.com/3nend
*However* (and it's a big however), it's very important to realize that
opening attachments received in E-mail messages is one of the most dangerous
things you can do with your computer. Many attachments can carry viruses or
other malware, and if you open them, you can easily get infected.
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.
Even if the attachment legitimately comes from a friend, it can contain a
virus. I'm not suggesting that a friend is likely to send you a virus on
purpose, but if the friend is infected without realizing it, any attachment
he sends you is likely to also be infected.
Personally I never open executable attachments at all, except from a *very*
few trusted sources, and then only when I'm expecting them.
