Can't open emails with attachments?

Question

I am using Outlook Express and have Windows XP.

When ever I try to open an e-mail with an attachemnt, a pop up says, 'the file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Create an association in the Folder Option control panel' and I am never able to open them.

I've gone to the folder option and not sure of what I am suppose to do once I get there.

Additional Details

10 hours ago
I'm not even sure how to find the 'extension'whether it be an mpr, doc or what ever.

10 hours ago
I'm not even sure how to find the 'extension'whether it be an mp3, doc or what ever. How do i find that info?

Thanks

Answer 1

There are two ways to go about it.
1) Instead of opening the attachment right from your Outlook Express, you can save it to your computer first. To do that, highlight the email that has attachment(s), go to File and click Save Attachments. Select a destination and click Save. Once the file is saved, go to the destination where you have saved this file. Right click on the file that you want to open, a menu will come up and one of the options is Open With. Click Open With and click Choose Program. A list of program will appear on the screen, select the Program that you want to use to open this file and be sure to check the check box that says "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file." And click OK. Double click the file to open it up. The way a computer associate a file to a program is by the extension of the file. Let say the extension of your file is .doc and you choose MS Word to open it up (again, be sure to check that check box that says "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file"), in the future, the computer will use MS Word to open a .doc file. MS Word is now the program associated to the .doc file.

2) Do you know the extension of the attachment that you are trying to open? If so, do you know if there are files with the same extension already in your computer? If so, then you right click on the file with the same extension that is already in your computer and choose program to run it. Once you have set it up, you can go back to your Outlook Express to open the attachment.

There are some limitations though.
1) You have to choose the appropriate program to open a file. For example, you cannot use Flash Player to open a Word document. You can associate a .doc file to Flash Player; but you wouldn't be able to open the .doc file.
2) Make sure you have the correct version of the program. If you have an older version of a software, you may not be able to open files that are created using a newer version of a software.

Answer 2

First, and most important, if you don't know what an attachment is, you shouldn't open it as it could be malicious.

Second, you need to have a program on the computer that can actually open the file. For example, if it's a .zip file, you need unzip. .mp3's can open with Windows Media Player.

Sometimes, the sender may accidentally change the filename of an attachment, perhaps deleting part of the extension. You could then choose to rename the file correcting the extension.

To see the full name of the file, double-click on the message to open it in it's own window. The header section should have the name of the file.

If it's a file that you need, you might want to ask the sender what it is and what program to use to open it.

Also, sometimes, attachments are actually payloads for an HTML e-mail. In any event, you don't want to open a file on your computer unless you are sure what it is. If you don't know, leave it alone.