Remove Blocking of Attachments from Outlook 9X/00/02
If you have applied Office/Outlook Service Pack 2, Service Pack 3 or a recent security update patch to
Outlook 9X, 2000 or 2002 (not Outlook Express), then you have probably noticed that potentially harmful e-
mail attachments such as those with the file extensions .exe, .bat, .vbs are blocked. You have the
attachment but Outlook won't let you get to it.
You can export your mail and import it into Outlook Express and you'll be able to get the attachment. But
boy, what a pain in the butt. The senders can also zip the file or change the file's extension before they
send the attachment. Below are instructions to allow all or just some of the attachments.
Instructions for Outlook 97,98 and Outlook 2000 Service Pack 2:
NOTE: For Outlook 2000 users, if you have installed Office/Outlook Service Pack 3 (Available Here), then
you can use either the method described in the next paragraph or you can follow the instructions in
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article Q290497.
Using a hex editor, open the file OUTLLIB.DLL found in the Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office folder,
and edit the list of file extensions. There are 40 blocked file extensions separated by semicolons. You can
do a search for the text string "ade;adp" (without the quotes) for example. You will see all 40 extensions
being blocked right there. Now carefully change each extension to aaa;aab;aac;aad;aae etc. Use whatever
letters you wish but do not use legitimate file extensions. Do not just delete any of the extensions since
Outlook checks the byte count of the file when it starts. Note that two of the extensions (vb & js) are 2
letters instead of the usual 3 letters. You may just want to edit some of the extensions to allow only some
files through. I suggest backing up the original OUTLLIB.DLL file before you do any editing.
Instructions for Outlook 2002/XP and Outlook 2000 Service Pack 3:
Follow the instructions in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article Q290497:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q290497
Instructions for Outlook Express 6:
You have 2 options available to you. You can either allow all attachments or you can selectively allow only
certain potentially harmful attachments.
Allow all attachments:
To disable and lose the protection of Outlook Express's security feature:
1) Start Outlook Express.
2) On the Tools menu, click Options.
3) Click the Security tab, Uncheck the forth item, which says "Do not allow attachments to be saved or
opened that could potentially be a virus" and then click OK.
NOTE: By default this protective security feature is not turned on, so you may find that it is already
unchecked.
You might want to try the second method first, since the above method disables the security protection
entirely.
Selectively allow some attachments:
You first have to turn on Outlook Express's security feature as follows:
1) Start Outlook Express.
2) On the Tools menu, click Options.
3) Click the Security tab, Place a checkmark next to the forth item, which says "Do not allow attachments
to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus" and then click OK.
MODIFY THE UNSAFE FILE LIST
NOTE: Because there are several versions of Microsoft Windows, the following steps may be different on
your computer.
To keep being protected by the Outlook Express file security feature but just remove certain file types from
the Internet Explorer unsafe file list:
1) Open Windows Explorer, click Tools on the toolbar and click Folder Options.
2) Click the File Types tab.
3) Click the file type that you want to allow, and then click Advanced or Edit.
4) Uncheck the "Confirm open after download" check box and click OK.
NOTE: Some file types will not allow you to uncheck the box or the file type may not even be on the list.
For example, by default, the Internet Explorer 6 unsafe file list includes .exe files, and you cannot remove
this file type from the list.
I find Outlook Express to be too aggressive in what it blocks. Some file types that I let in are bmp, doc,
eml (listed under Outlook Express Mail Message), gif, htm, html, jpe, jpg, jpeg, pdf, rtf, tif, tiff, txt, url
(listed under Internet Shortcut) and URL-HyperText Transfer Protocol (Listed in N/A section). Keep in mind
that a website url (link) may take you to a webpage that will install unwanted programs on your PC. So
whenever you receive e-mail with attachments or website links, you should be expecting that e-mail.
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* Origin: [adminz] tech, security, support (192.168.0.2)
generated by msg2page 0.06 on Jul 21, 2006 at 19:04:32
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