Outlook 2000/XP Service Packs Make E-mail Attachments Inaccessible

Outlook 2000 and Outlook XP (2002), (not Outlook Express), will make e-mail attachments inaccessible after applying Outlook 2000/XP Service Release 1, at: http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/2000/downloaddetails/Out2ksec.htm or the more general Office 2000 Service Pack 2, at: http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/2000/downloaddetails/sp2upd.htm .

For more information on this Outlook 2000/XP feature added by the Service Pack, please see: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q262/6/31.ASP . At the end of this note a method of getting the inaccessible attachment is given. For other alternatives for a workaround see: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/esecup/getexe.htm and http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/929/ .

Details
Microsoft created an Outlook 2000 update, SR-1, (included with more general Office 2000 Service Pack 2), and Office XP Service Pack 1, which patched Outlook 2000 or Outlook XP (not Outlook Express) such that many kinds of attachments (.exe, .com, vbs, ... 30+ different file types.) are made completely inaccessible (you can't save or even refer to them from Outlook).

This was done by Microsoft to prevent Outlook from opening or running files that could install and spread viruses. This means, anyone using Outlook 2000 or XP mail client and who applied this Service, will not be able to receive typical attachments. This patch is included in Office XP SP-1, and in Office 2000 SP-2 (both of which also fix known Office bugs).

There is no prompt or choice while running the patched Outlook 2000 or XP mail client; any attachment file with any of the 30 file extensions cannot be accessed as an attachment by Outlook 2000/XP. If Office 2000 or XP Service Packs are applied, attachments are taken off the mail server but they will be invisible. The message and other attachments not in the list remain accessible. A warning prompt is issued when using Outlook 2000 or XP to send these kinds of attachments; the warning is that "other Outlook users may not be able to receive such attachments."

Microsoft intends this action to help protect people's systems from viruses, BUT also has potential to inconvenience people who legitimately need to exchange files via email attachments (HTML files for example). (Eudora Pro 5.1 warns when attempting to launch any attachment; there is a choice to launch nor not to launch such attachments; but they are still saved in the Attachment folder).

How to get the Inaccessible Attachment
Since Outlook 2000/XP does not actually delete attachments and since attachments are really an encoded part of the message itself, it is possible to extract the attachment(s) with another program. The steps to do this are as follows:

1. Run Outlook Express (not Outlook)
2. Click File/Import/Messages
3. Choose Microsoft Outlook mail messages (inbox typically) with Outlook inaccessible attachment file(s).
4. The full message WITH the attachment file(s) WILL be available to Outlook Express. That is, SAVE AS will then work within Outlook Express. If one does attempt to launch such an attachment file from Outlook Express, one DOES get a warning message, allowing one to SAVE AS or launch from Outlook Express.
5. Before launching or opening any attachment with any e-mail client, make certain that a good antivirus package, with current virus definition files, is used to scan any attachments. Note that Norton Antivirus 2002 is available to the Penn State community at no charge; see: http://its.psu.edu/virus.html#vsoftware

Sharing Files&-Alternatives to E-mail Attachments
Some alternatives to e-mail attachments for sharing files are:

• Secure FTP Server. For example, for Windows see WFTPD Pro at: http://www.wftpd.com/. Secure FTP Client. For example, for Windows see: WSFTP Pro at: http://www.wsftp.com/Purchase/products/ws_ftp.html . Both of these products support SSL (all data transferred is encrypted). Also see: http://cac.psu.edu/internet/ssh/

• Shared Secured Networks. For example, see the PASS system. See http://cac.psu.edu/ait/storagespace.html. Also see Departmental Web space: http://cac.psu.edu/accounts/dept.html.

For further information, please see http://ftp.cac.psu.edu/pub/ger/documents/outlook.html