Page 2      Diablo Blue      July, 2000

At least not until you read ALL of the voluminous warning material found on the MS web page where the update is found.
Some of the things the update does are a minor nuisance and are probably worth the effort in order to slow down the use of the OUTLOOK contact list to propagate viruses. After the update every time another program attempts to access or use the OUTLOOK contact list a warning screen pops up and asks whether it is okay for an unnamed program to access OUTLOOK. For example when I attempt to synchronize the contact list on the Palm with the Outlook Contact list this warning pops up. I can allow the Palm program access to Outlook for various times ranging from 1 minute on up.
What is completely unacceptable is that when an attachment of a type found on a list of "level 1" program types is seen on incoming mail Outlook trashes the attachment. The "level 1" program type list is supposed to be a list of executable programs that could possibly be a virus. Some of the "dangerous" program types are .bat, .com, .exe, .inf, .lnk, .mdb, .scr, etc.
Now did you happen to notice that ".mdb" is one of the villain files? MS Access users will recognize it as the extension used on Access data bases.
Now I happen to exchange a data base with a friend on a monthly basis and since my friend does not have a broadband modem, it is about a 20 minute job for him to transmit the data base to me as an e-mail attachment. When I got the e-mail it was noted that the former attachment was no longer there since it was dangerous. (It said: "Outlook blocked access to the following potentially unsafe attachments: 1999 NCNC roster.mdb")
First off I did a file search through my entire hard drive hoping that Outlook had stuck the offending file in a quarantine folder like Norton Anti-Virus does. No such luck. It was gone, kaput, finished, wasted, etc.
I feel that MS should have handled the "bad" files the way Norton AV does. Norton puts up a big screen saying that a file has a virus and should Norton delete it, put it in quarantine, or run it. I put it in quarantine until I have time to run a Norton diagnosis on the file. Now why couldn't Microsoft done the same thing. That way I would immediately recognize the file as the Access data base file I was expecting and instructed Outlook to put the database file in the Access folder. Probably too simple an idea. I wrote to Microsoft with the suggestion but I didn't even get the courtesy of a response to my e-mail.
By the way, my friend and I solved the problem (with an assist from Ron Ogg) by having him send me the file as an zip file. Worked fine.

In last month's Diablo Blue we heard about Alan Mildwurm's experience with a DSL installation in his office. My experience was a little different, maybe because it was an individual non-business installation.
Here's is my experience...
Placed an order on 4/28/00.
It was to be placed on one of my existing phone lines. I was given a service order number but no installation date. I was to be notified within 5 days when my installation would be made.

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