ARCHIVED: Why does Outlook 98, 2000, 2002, or 2003 warn me that I have an unsafe attachment?

In Outlook 98, 2000, 2002, or 2003, when you open an email message that was sent with an attachment, you may see the following warning at the top of the message:

"Outlook blocked access to the following potentially unsafe attachment: filename"

Instead of filename, you will see the actual name of the attached file(s).

You will receive this warning if you are using Outlook 2002 or 2003, which apply the Outlook Email Security Update as a standard feature, and you have been sent an attachment that could be unsafe. This warning will also appear if you are running a version of Outlook 98 or 2000 that has the Outlook Email Security Update installed. This update enhances the security features of Outlook; one way it does this is by restricting access to certain attachments.

The file attachment is still included with the message, but Outlook will not let you access it. You cannot save, delete, open, print, or otherwise change the blocked attachment.

If you are using Outlook to access your Exchange mailbox, you may access the restricted attachments through Outlook Web Access or Outlook Express. Also, custom security settings may be available on your Exchange server to modify which attachment types are restricted. Custom security settings are the only method to modify the default behavior of the security update, and they must be set up by your Exchange server administrator.