Email Rejected

[colin]

Some emails sent to my TCH account have been been getting rejected with the follow message:

 

    This message has been rejected because it has

    a potentially executable attachment "HDModule.chm"

    This form of attachment has been used by

    recent viruses or other malware.

    If you meant to send this file then please

    package it up as a zip file and resend it.

How do I disable this feature?

[TCH-Bruce]

Welcome to the family.

 

You cannot disable the feature. You can have who ever is sending you the file zip it up and send it to you.

[colin]

Well that really sucks.

 

Is there at least some way that I could be notified when this happens?

How about just stripping off the attachment and adding a note to bottom of the email, instead of rejecting the message entirely?

 

Also, do you have a list of the file types that get rejected?

I've had this happen for strange things like .chm and .mdb files.

Are there really viruses that spread using MS Access databases?

[TCH-Bruce]

Here is a complete list of blocked attachments.

 

http://www.totalchoicehosting.com/help/id25.htm

[Deverill]

Are there really viruses that spread using MS Access databases?

If not currently then there could be. All of the Microsoft Office products have scripting languages that are very powerful. Unfortunately, it takes about 3 lines of programming and flipping a switch to create a database that will delete all the files on C: when you open it. Power comes with risk and the risk is too high for most places to allow such emails to pass without the user having to go to a fair amount of effort to activate it... such as unzipping and then running.

 

My workplace has the exact same kind of thing in place and our users still get viruses - I'd hate to think about it if we didn't have those protections because I'm in the IT department and would have to do the recoveries... not a fun thing to think about.

 

Sorry for the inconvenience but it is indeed not that uncommon.

[TCH-Rob]

The last place I worked blocked attachments. All of them. They felt that an email server was for sending text and that if you needed a file transfered to use a shared drive or FTP.

[ThumpAZ]

another way around it (because some email AV servers scan inside, or even block, zip files) is to right click the file and rename the extension by adding a nonsense character (e.g. yourfile.exe1).

The hard part is making sure that your recipient knows what the file is supposed to be, and how to change it back (don't take it for granted that they will)

[Samrc]

Why not upload the file to your website, send an email with a LINK to the file for download.

 

No zipping/unzipping, attachment blocking, no ftp worries, no renaming etc.

Or is there an issue with downloading that type file?

 

Since windows comes shipped with the option to "HIDE KNOWN FILE EXTENTIONS" checked, most folks don't know what a file extention looks like, or how to change it.

 

-Samantha

[ThumpAZ]

Good point Samantha... I always forget that the less techie folks leave the known extensions turned off in M$.

Upping the file to your site is also a good idea, as long as the person on the other end also knows how to download a file... but I think that we're getting into the realm of folks that probably will also ask with a double click is at this point

[Virtual Imager]

How DO you download a file?

 

[TCH-Thomas]

Usually right click and choose "save as", then hold your breath until it beeps...

 

No seriously, if you upload a file to your server, then send someone the link like domain.com/file.zip then the browser usually opens the save as dialog automatically.

[Virtual Imager]

I was kidding! But thanks, Thomas. You rock!

[TCH-Thomas]

Thanks for telling you were j/k.

But no matter you were kidding or not, I think its good to add the info I did too, since some people thinks you actually need to visit a "proper" (those we are used to visit) webpage to be able to do this and that.

[Samrc]

Still looking for that "any" key. Anyone found it yet?

 

woooot

 

 

 

No seriously, if you upload a file to your server, then send someone the link like domain.com/file.zip then the browser usually opens the save as dialog automatically.

 

Yup. That's what I do. Faster, no quotas, and I can tell when someone accesses that file! Good solution all around for the folks I deal with most.

 

-Samantha

[Virtual Imager]

Thanks for telling you were j/k.

But no matter you were kidding or not, I think its good to add the info I did too, since some people thinks you actually need to visit a "proper" (those we are used to visit) webpage to be able to do this and that.

I agree. I always appreciate it if, when people give advice, they include a more detailed explanation of how to do whatever it is. Even if the person asking doesn't need the 'lesson,' many of us reading it will.

 

Luckily I'm not shy about asking for a step-by-step when I need it. And, even more luckily, you guys at TCH are always willing and usually able to give it.

 

Thanks TCH!