Unable to open any attachments

  • Thread starter Thread starter Valerie Lawrence
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Valerie Lawrence

I am unable to open any attachments that come with e-
mail. I always get a msg: OE removed access to the
following unsafe attachments in your mail:RDBunim
envelope.pub - this is an example of what I get upoon
attempting to open an attachment. Has anyone else
encountered this problem and if so how do I fix it?
 
This is a security precaution that perhaps you opted for at some point. To
change it go to Tools/Options/Security and uncheck the corresponding box.
But be careful with those attachments, they might be viruses!

/Mikhail
 
Greetings --

Outlook Express' default security settings are simply trying to
protect you. OE has no way of telling whether an attachment actually
contains a virus or not, so it temporarily blocks any of those file
types that could potentially contain a virus. In Outlook Express,
Tools > Options > Security, uncheck the "Do not allow attachments to
be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus" option, assuming
you trust the source, of course. The wiser course of action, however,
would be to modify your list of unsafe files, as outlined in the KB
articles below:

Cannot Open E-Mail Attachments in OE After You Install SP1
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q329570

Information About the Unsafe File List in Internet Explorer 6
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;291369

OLEXP Using Virus Protection Features in Outlook Express 6
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;291387


Bruce Chambers

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In
Valerie Lawrence said:
I am unable to open any attachments that come with e-
mail. I always get a msg: OE removed access to the
following unsafe attachments in your mail:RDBunim
envelope.pub - this is an example of what I get upoon
attempting to open an attachment. Has anyone else
encountered this problem and if so how do I fix it?


Starting with SP1, Outlook Express does this by default, for any
file type which *can* contain a virus. It's not a virus checker,
doesn't actually check the attachments, and this doesn't mean
that there actually is a virus there.

Such attachments *are* very risky. 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.

Personally I never open executable attachments at all, except
from a *very* few trusted sources, and then only when I'm
expecting them. But if you want to remove this safeguard, it's
easy to do so: go to Tools | Options, and on the security tab,
uncheck "Do not allow attachments..."
 
Go to Outlook Express, open up Tools, then Options, then
Security.

Look under the top section which covers virus's and you
will see a box that reads <B>"Do not allow attchments to
be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus"</B>.
Uncheck it and you should be good to go.
 
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