CYBER NOTES July, 2005 by Dave Benore
More about Email Attachments
Last month email attachments were discussed. This month brings a little more information about them.
When one double clicks on an email attachment to open it, sometimes a dialog box opens first with the question “Do you want to open the file?” This is a warning that any file can contain a virus. It’s a “just in case” warning and does not mean that there is anything wrong with the file. It’s only a last chance to change your mind. If you trust the email sender, open the file (the attachment). If you don’t, then don’t open it at all! When you delete the email, the attachment will be deleted also.
If you are worried about a virus but still want to read the attachment, you can save the attachment without opening it and then later scan the file with your antivirus software to see if it’s safe. You can save the attachment by clicking “File” on the menubar, and selecting “Save Attachments”. You will have to tell the computer which folder in which to save the attached file. Several files can be attached to an email message, and saved if desired.
One problem sometimes encountered when opening an attachment is that you get a dialog box saying the computer cannot open the attachment. Why?
Consider file name extensions, the normally three character portion of the file name after the period (dot) in the file name (sometimes not shown in Windows).
The file extension part of the file name indicates what program created the attached file. That extension causes your computer to use the same program to open the file so you can read it. But what if you do not have the same program on your computer? Your computer will not be able to open the file. All you can do is email the sender and ask what program was used to create the file that was attached—and maybe ask that a different program be used instead. One that you have on your computer.
You see, every different program usually uses a different code (format) for the files it creates. That code is indicated by the file name extension. If you don’t have the right program, you can’t read the code. It just doesn’t work. (Note: A few programs can read several different codes.) Happy Computing!
