Unable to open any attachments in Windows Mail

[nszat]

About 1 week ago, I was no longer able to open any attachments in Windows
Mail/Outlook Express. (didn't matter what kind of file). If I tried to save
the file to the Desktop, I received an error message "the command failed to
execute" with a help reference to this forum. Also, my download manager
stopped working, and I was unable to download any files from the internet. I
have read through all of the entries under this topic, and have tried all of
the solutions.
1. Download problem was solved by downloading DownItAll from Firefox.
2. Email:
a. The box marked "do not allow attachments to be saved..." under
Options/Security is unchecked. "Block images and other content..." is also
unchecked.
b. Anti-virus- I was using AVG - I uninstalled it - no change. I
installed Kaspersky 2009, ran complete virus scan - no change.
c, Checked registry key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE - no problems there
d. Tried to restore to a previous point - no luck.
e. Downloaded Windows LiveMail, but apparently I will have to change my
email address to hotmail. I do NOT want to give up my wi.rr.com email
address, and I don't care to have a hotmail or livemail account. (I already
have 2 other accounts with yahoo and gmail, and I don't need any morep
f. From what I've read so far, it seems that some Windows Update has
caused the problem, and that Microsoft will not support a fix for this
problem, as they desire to have everyone use LiveMail. That's fine, if you
want to make LiveMail the default on the next Vista upgrade. However, for
all of using the current Vista 6.0, we expect that all features of 6.0 should
be supported.
Do you have any suggestions? Is there a solution for this problem? Or
is it time for me to invest in an Apple computer?
Thank you
Nancy

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

What makes you think that Windows Live Mail (WLM) will cause you to
give up your wi.rr.com email address? That address will work just fine.
There is no requirement to have a Hotmail or Live address to use WLM.

 

[Guest]

Well, I finally got Windows Mail installed (during the install, there
was an instruction that led me to believe that I was limited to a
hotmail address = clearly I was wrong). However, attachments still will
not open. But at least I can now drag them to the desktop to open them
or forward the email to my other email accounts to view the attachment.
But the question remains, why won't attachments open in Outlook Express?
(and I once again unchecked the box for "do not allow attachments..")

..
Mainly because Windows Mail and Outlook Express aren't able to
run under the same version of Windows.

You may be confusing Windows Mail, which comes with Vista, with
Windows Live Mail, which has to be installed later. Windows Live
Mail will run under some versions of XP, even if Outlook Express
can run under that version also. If you're asking about Windows Live
Mail instead, you'll find more people who use it over in newsgroup
microsoft.public.windows.live.mail.desktop .

Robert Miles

 

[Peter Foldes]

nszat

This is not an Windows Mail error. The most common cause is a corrupt registry key
in Internet Explorer 6,7. The registry key found at
HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Classes\htmlfile\shell\open\command
is either damaged or corrupt.

To fix it, try resetting Web settings in Internet Explorer. If this does not
resolve the issue, you'll need to import the registry key from another computer.

To Reset Web settings

1.. Open Internet Explorer.
2.. On the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
3.. Click the Programs tab, and then click the Reset Web Settings button.
4.. Under Internet programs, verify that the correct e-mail program is selected.
5.. Click to select the Internet Explorer should check to see whether it is the
default browser check box.
6.. Click Apply, and then click OK.
If you receive a message when Internet Explorer starts telling you that IE is not
currently your default browser, click Yes to make it your default.

When resetting the web settings doesn't help, you'll need to recreate the corrupt
key. The easiest way to do this is by exporting the key from another computer.

To save exporting it from another computer, right click here to download a registry
key exported from my computer. Choose Save target as and change the file extension
from txt to reg and double click on it to run it.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

I suspect you mean you installed Windows Live Mail rather than
"Windows Mail".

Not sure why you are bringing up "Outlook Express". We can't
answer questions about Outlook Express in this particular
newsgroup.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

The newsgroup to which you posted is dedicated to the
Windows Mail program.
You will get more help by posting that question in the
Windows Live Mail newsgroup:

http://www.microsoft.com/communitie...dg=microsoft.public.windows.live.mail.desktop
or via your news reader: news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windows.live.mail.desktop