Tech Tip Daily

Microsoft has long been criticized for it’s lack of attention to security.  For a long time, the majority of its products have not only had some major holes, but has done little to prevent the end user from jeopardizing their well-being.  Fortunately, this trend has changed in the past few years.  Microsoft has been taking some very large steps in security not only their operating systems, but their applications as well.

Finally, people are beginning to get the point that you shouldn’t open file attachments.  Just in case a few didn’t get that memo, Microsoft blocks some of the more dangerous attachment types (.exe, .vbs, .bat, etc.).  You’ll know that Outlook is blocking the attachments by the message “Outlook blocked access to the following potentially unsafe attachments:” that appears where the attachments usually do.  That way, Aunt Sally doesn’t accidentally open an email “from Uncle George” with the file “virus.exe” included.  Despite this security feature, I and a few others insist on being stubborn and having complete and unrestricted access to the capability of a program.  If I want to download and infect my computer, let me do it.

Although it isn’t easily accessible through the file menu (probably a good thing), Microsoft has outlined steps to disable attachment blocking for specific file types on their support knowledge base.  I’ll outline these steps below.

It’s important to emphasize that this really is a good thing.  Microsoft made the right choice in doing this because, well, it protects you.  In my case, I had an .exe file that I HAD to retrieve from my exchange email, and I had no choice but to follow these steps to access it.  And remember, when opening file attachments (never), you should only open those that are from someone you know, AND that you are expecting.  Grandma Johnson sends you pictures.zip?  Call her up and make sure she sent it.  Then, scan it with antivirus software just to be safe.  My papa always said, “Scan twice, open once.”  Do the following at your own risk.

To unblock a particular file type within Outlook:

1. These steps will involve modifying the registry.  As is always good practice when modifying the registry, be sure to back it up.
2. Exit Outlook if it’s running
3. Click Start -> Run, type ‘regedit’ and hit enter
4. In the window that appears, navigate to the following registry keys, depending on your version of Outlook (clicking the ‘+’ next to each section heading)

   Outlook 2007
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Security

   Outlook 2003
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Security

   Outlook 2002
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\Security

   Outlook 2000
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Outlook\Security

5. If these keys don’t exist for your version, create them.  Otherwise, proceed to step 6.  Navigate to the ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft’ and right click in the right on the Office Folder in the left pane.  Select New->Key and then title the new key as the corresponding version number depending on your version (look above – 12.0 for 2007, 11.0 for 2003, etc.).  Then click on the key you just created and create a new key titled ‘Outlook’ and then a new key within that one titled ‘Security’
6. Select the ‘Security’ key/folder and then right click in the right pane, selecting New->String Value.  Give the new value a name of ‘Level1Remove’
7. Once created, right click ‘Level1Remove’ and select ‘Modify’.  In the text field, type the file extensions (including the period) that you wish to unblock within Outlook, separated by a semicolon.  For example, I have…

   .exe;.bat;.vbs

8. Click Ok and close all windows.  Restart your computer

Outlook will now allow you to download these previously-blocked attachments.  Again, I caution you on doing this, and always make sure that you scan anything that you receive as a file attachment.

That’s all!  Thanks, and happy computing!

This entry was posted on Monday, September 8th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Outlook, Software. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.