Ms Office Tune Up

There is, to be sure, much that is potentially dangerous in Table 12.1, but also much that is potentially useful: Registry files, screen savers, Access databases, and batch files, to name just a few. How do you sneak such files past Outlook in cases where you know the files are safe? Here are some ideas:

• Compress the file into a ZIP archive. Outlook doesn’t block the .zip extension, so your recipient can easily open or save the archive, and then it extract the original file.
• Rename the file’s extension to one that isn’t listed in Table 12.1. For example, rename script.wsh to script.wsh.delete. When recipients save the attachment, they can remove the extra extension to restore the original filename.
• If you have a Web site, put a copy of the file on the site and then send the file’s URL in the message instead of the file itself. The recipients can then download the file directly to their system, bypassing Outlook altogether.
• If you are working on a network, put a copy of the file in a shared network folder and then put the folder’s network address in your message instead of attaching the file.

CAUTION

No matter how you fool or bypass Outlook’s attachment security, you still need to be smart about the attachments themselves.That is, always scan the files for viruses before opening them.

If you regularly get attachments of a certain file type, the preceding solutions can be more of a hassle than they’re worth. Fortunately, there is a Registry tweak you can perform that enables you to specify one or more extensions that Outlook should open with less paranoia. Notice that I didn’t say with no paranoia; even with the tweak, you still have a hurdle or two to jump through. To see why, first understand that the file types in Table 12.1 are what Microsoft calls Level 1 file types. With Level 1, you don’t get access to the files, period. However, Microsoft also defines Level 2 file types. With these file types, you can access them as attachments, but only by first saving the files to your hard disk. That is, you can’t open the files directly from the message. The assumption here is that saving the files to your hard disk gives you the opportunity to virus-check the files before opening them.

To specify a file type as Level 2 (there are no default Level 2 file types in Outlook 2007), follow these steps:

1. Open the Registry Editor. (Press Windows Logo+R to open the Run dialog box, type regedit, and click OK. Note that Windows Vista asks you for your User Account Control credentials before allowing you to open the Registry Editor.)
2. Navigate to the following key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook
3. If you don’t see a Security subkey, choose Edit, New, Key, type Security, and press Enter.
4. With the Security subkey selected, choose Edit, New, String Value, type Level1Remove and press Enter.
5. Press Enter to open the Level1Remove setting.
6. Type the extension of each file type you want to move to Level 2, separated by semi­colons. For example, the following string moves the Registry Data File, Screen Saver, and Access Database file types to Level 2: .reg;.scr;.mdb
7. Shut down and restart Outlook to put the new setting into effect.

When you attempt to open a Level 2 file type attachment from a message, Outlook displays the Attachment Security Warning dialog box shown in Figure 1. You need to click the Save to Disk button to save the attachment to your hard disk before you can open it.

Figure 1 You can work with Level 2 file types, but you must save them to your hard disk before you can open them.

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