Windows Defeneder Blocking all email attachments

dvdfan

Hi,

Windows defender is blocking all email attachments saying windows has found a potentially harmful attachment and has blocked access to this. How can i stop this??

Ive tried changing the settings in Outlook express in security by unticking the do not allow attachments to be saved etc but this made no difference.

Im using windows xp sp2, also cant find any settings that would make a difference in control panel -> Security Centre which is the application that is giving me the message (i presume security centre and windows defender are the same thing)

I cant find an option to uninstall windows defender in fact it dosent appear to be in my add remove programs or program files. What the hell can i do i need to get to some important files and cant find anything on google at all???????

p.s i cant open or save any attachments be it .doc .ppv .png .anything

thetourist

dvdfan wrote:

Hi,

Windows defender is blocking all email attachments saying windows has found a potentially harmful attachment and has blocked access to this. How can i stop this??

Ive tried changing the settings in Outlook express in security by unticking the do not allow attachments to be saved etc but this made no difference.

Im using windows xp sp2, also cant find any settings that would make a difference in control panel -> Security Centre which is the application that is giving me the message (i presume security centre and windows defender are the same thing)

I cant find an option to uninstall windows defender in fact it dosent appear to be in my add remove programs or program files. What the hell can i do i need to get to some important files and cant find anything on google at all???????

p.s i cant open or save any attachments be it .doc .ppv .png .anything

sounds a bit strange that windows defender would be ABLE to block email attachments - i have been using antispyware for a year now ( it used to be called antispyware ) and it never blocked an email attachment - just a thought but maybe it's something else that's the problem - although there could have been some changes made to the program that i havent seen.

windows defender is an antispyware program which runs on windows but is not really a part of it whereas windows security centre is an integral part of windows service pack 2 ( which i dont think has any capacity to block email attachmnets either ) - but they are 2 very different things and as far as i know there is no connection between them either

if you cant remove windows defender via an uninstall link in the programs section of the start menu or via add remove programs then you could try using system restore to restore the pc back to the way it was before the problem started. another option is to use a program like advanced unistaller to do a forced uninstall. as a last resort you could delete the program folder and hope for the best although you really would need to clean up the registry after that ...

it could be the securtiy settings in internet explorer - tools menu - options and somewhere in there you should set the security level to normal or low or default - it could also be antivirus software or a virus

if you are stuck for your documents then you can use one of several websites to get your mail for you - i think mail 2 web is one of them - just do a google search for online pop email and you should find a few but you'll need your password

TommyGun

I agree, this does not sound like its a MS Defender problem. Uninstall the program and see if you have the same problem.

dvdfan

Sorry, it dosent appear to be a windows defender problem, i upgraded to service pack 2 because you have to before you can install windows defender and it was at that time that i started getting the problems. It is actuall the SECURITY CENTRE thats causing the problem or at least giving the alert.

Ive attached the alert and the picture of the program in question icons in control panel.

It seems absolutely ridiculous that outlook express is preventing me from opening anything with an attachment including zip files because ive upgraded to the new security centre. Fair enough warm me but then give me the option. The only way i can get an attachment at the moment is forward it to one of my email addresses and view it online eg hotmail etc and then download and save it from there.

I have no choice but to dump outlook express now or go back to service pack 1. The first option is the easiest so has anyone any suggestions for a good email program thats free where i can import my old messages from outlook express and still have all the good features of outlook??

Karoma

Uh...

Click Tools.
Click Options.
Click the Security tab.
Untickety the check box next to "Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus."
Click OK.

..?


You may still see a warning bar before allowing access...

Dumping outlook express is always a good idea.
Mozilla Thunderbird perhaps?

dvdfan

Karoma wrote:

Uh...

Click Tools.
Click Options.
Click the Security tab.
Untickety the check box next to "Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus."
Click OK.

..?


You may still see a warning bar before allowing access...

Dumping outlook express is always a good idea.
Mozilla Thunderbird perhaps?

Hi Karoma, see my original post, ive tried that and no luck

dvdfan wrote:

Ive tried changing the settings in Outlook express in security by unticking the do not allow attachments to be saved etc but this made no difference.

Karoma

i needs sleeppsss