Solved Windows Mail unable to open Attachments

[tktk88]

I am using Windows 7 Pro and Windows Mail installed per the Tutorial on here...........no prblems for over a year with mail working or opening attachements.........in past few days I am now unable to open word files pdf files excel files power point files that are attachements in email...............I can open any of these files on my computer but not in windows mail...........wonderingif the latest Windows updates this past week have any effect on this issue??

 

[ThrashZone]

The only suggestions I've seen are go to Uninstall a program/ Right click Windows essentials 2012 and click on Uninstall or change,
On the next window click on Repair all programs.
As a test,
Enter safe mode with networking and see if the issue still exists.
Shut down your machine,
Power up and Tap the F8 key continuously until you see a black page with white text,
Use the down arrow key to toggle to safe mode with networking/ hit the enter key.
Login as usual,

Also you can try Clean boot,
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

 

[tktk88]

Thanks Thrash I tried your suggestions with no success I appreciate it..certainly open to any other ideas..........

 

[robinb9]

Try uninstalling it, when you uninstall and re install it will put back all your emails and contacts, it holds it in a registry key so that is why it come back. Maybe that will fix it

 

[Roderunner]

Hi tktk88,

Any attachments I get in WLM are right clicked then select Save as...
-
It could be your PC does not have a program installed to open some file extentions.

 

[tktk88]

Thanks robinb9 I was hoping not to go there tha tis my next step

 

[robinb9]

before you go to that step you can backup windows live mail (this pertains to 2012 also by using this manual I created

 

[tktk88]

Thanks robinb9 I am using windows mail not windows live mail just to clear up the confusion......

 

[grits]

tktk88, you're more likely to get help if you post in the Windows Mail comments, same place you got the tut for installing it. A poster over there named 'endeavor' is the best help I ever found.

 

[robinb9]

What 0S are you running because windows Mail does not work in windows 7 and 8 and if you are running either OS you will run into big problems

 

[tktk88]

thanks grits I will give that a try........

 

[tktk88]

robinb9 thanks I am runiing windows 7 pro as I illustrated in my original post.......and windows mail has functioned without issues for close to 2 years now using the tutorial provided on this forum............it just recently developed this issue I can read emails send them write emails etc even click on liknks etc however the issue is for some reason and again just in the last few days I am unable to open attachements such as pdf, power point, word, excel files and again they have worked without issue for close to 2 years very frustrating.............go to the tutorial section you will see a very detailed tutorial on how to use windows mail with windows 7 and windows 8 .......you will find it under this heading in the tutorials section

How to Reinstate Windows Mail in Windows 7​

 

[robinb9]

I am wondering if one of the ms security updates messed it up

 

[tktk88]

exactly what I am thinking as well.......I took a look at the recent updates didnt see one that jumped out at me to remove so I am thinking I may want to try one at a time just for drill.........

 

[tktk88]

Problem solved......after alot of frustration I found the solution to this from another issues after installing IE10. After installing IE 10 I was unable to download files from known safe sites such as NVidia.......download manager would download the file and after completion would run a scan and say that file had virus and delete it.......ironically this is related somehow to Windows Defender becoming corrupt from a microsoft security update at some point........here is the solution that worked perfectly as referenced from a microsoft link posted by A Guy in my post dealing with hte Windows Download Manager issue:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...file-xxx/364735ab-a76e-4580-af54-2849602e8ff2

As I suspected, the problem had to do with a missing program that was set to scan downloads combined with a previous infection on the computer of "System Care" scareware...

Symptom?

In control panel, when viewing small icons, the Windows Defender icon is missing, or creates an error when clicked.

The problem?

"System Care" messed up the installation of Windows Defender (stored at C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\ and also at C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Defender\ if using 64bit Windows 7)

The solution?


Since Microsoft has no way available of reinstalling Windows Defender, the solution I found was this:

• From a working Windows 7 machine, Zip up the "Windows Defender" folder from "C:\Program Files\" to be "Windows-Defender.zip"
• Also Zip up the "Windows Defender" folder from "C:\Program Files (x86)\" to be "Windows-Defender-x86.zip" (if using 64-bit windows)
• On the broken Windows 7 machine, open Windows Explorer as administrator, and rename the "Windows Defender" folder in each of the directories to something like "Windows Defender.bak" (do this in both C:\Program Files\ and C:\Program Files (x86))
• Copy the .zip file(s) you made above on to the broken machine, and unzip them into their appropriate locations:
• Unzip "Windows-Defender.zip" to "C:\Program Files\"
• Unzip "Windows-Defender-x86.zip" to "C:\Program Files (x86)\" (if using 64 bit windows)

At this point, visiting the control panel again, revealed a working Windows Defender icon. Also, downloading files through Internet Explorer started working again.

Besides fixing the problem for me, it reveals that Microsoft is not 100% accurate when they say that Security Essentials REPLACES Windows Defender, as it is obvious that Internet Explorer is still trying to use defender to check downloaded files.... The broken/missing Defender created a false result when IE attempted to scan the file, and thus the browser assumes the file is malicious.
It works perfectly !