Page 10      Diablo Blue      May, 2001

(Continued from page 7)

The problem concerns the way Outlook and other email software handle combinations of email format and attachments. Essentially, if you send email in RTF format, as I did, The message is really sent in two parts. The first is the text itself in plain text. The second part is the entire formatted document. And the attachment is included in this second part. Certain receiving software can not figure out where the rtf message ends and the attachment starts, so you "lose" the attachment.
I was able to resolve this problem by following Ron's instructions and going into Outlook's to Tools / Options / Mail Format menu and selecting "Send in this mail format: HTML".

Visual Basic Scripts (VBS) are popular with virus writers. That's because they're easy to create and will launch if sent as an e-mail attachment. And the recipient double-clicks on them.
But there's an easy, free way for you to defeat Visual Basic Script viruses.
Every file type has a default action that takes place when we double click on a file. The default action for double clicking on a VBS (Visual Basic Script) file type is to open and execute the script file. That means double clicking on the attachment runs or launches the script. This default action is the mechanism that can result in system infection if a user unknowingly launches an infected attachment received in an email message. 
You can easily change this action and stop the accidental launch and execution of a VBS file by making it do something else when double-clicked on.
Some users have disabled or removed the capability of the system to run a VBS file out of fear of potential viral exposure. However, there's a relatively easy fix for this that will still permit a web page or other application to run a VB script when such function is actually needed, but will block the double click action. The fix is to change the default action to Edit, which causes the file to open in Notepad rather than execute.
Here's the Step-by-Step
In Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer), open Folder Options under the View pull-down menu (moved to Tools in Windows Me). Select the "File Types" tab and scroll to VBScript Encoded File. Click on the "Edit" button ("Advanced" in Windows Me).
What happens is another window will open showing the possible file actions, with the default action indicated in boldface type. The default action is likely "Open." Highlight instead the word "Edit" and click on the "Set Default" button. "Edit" should now appear in bold face.
In some older systems the Edit function may not be listed. In such instances, click the NEW button and enter "Edit" in the action field and "NOTEPAD.EXE" in the application field. When "Edit" has been added make it the default action as shown above.
While in the file type screen, also make sure the boxes for "always show extension" and enable quick view" are also checked. Click "OK" to close the open windows.
Windows usually has several example VBS files on the system, in a folder named "sample." Find one of them and double click on it. If the action caused Notepad to open and display the content of the file, you've done it correctly and are safe from an accidental VBS infection.