LOOSE ATTACHMENTS

Emails.  it's sometimes difficult to remember life before them.  We can now keep in touch with family on the far side of the world with a tap of the keyboard, and most of the time it works more reliably than snail mail.

We send quick notes a couple of lines long just to say hello to the Americas or the Antipodes without giving it a second thought.  Or we attach the odd photo or maybe a round robin written in Word or similar.  And of course we receive them. 

We've all been there.  The email from Cousin John has the little paperclip showing in the top right corner and he proudly invites us to read the witty journal of his travels around Matabeleland attached! - and now it goes wrong.  We click on the paperclip and the attachment won't open.  This is very frustrating.

So what do we do about it?

You are probably using Microsoft's Outlook Express.  Recent versions block certain attachments, which have been known to harbour viruses.  If you are certain that they are from a source you can trust, you can unblock them. 

To do this:

• Right click on the paperclip icon with your mouse. 

• A little menu appears. 

• If the attachment has been blocked one of the items on the menu will be 'unblock'.

• Click this with the left mouse button and you will be able to open the attachment.

However, to keep your computer safe, you should Save the attachment and Scan it for viruses before you open it.  For more advice about Internet security, contact The Full Poodle on 01297 443819.

It may well be that the attachment is not blocked but you still can't open it.  The most likely reason for this is that the attachment was created by someone using a program you don't have on your computer. 

• Right click on that paperclip icon again and look at the little menu. 

• The top line will show the title of the attachment followed by a full stop and then three or four letters. 

• It is these letters, called a 'file extension', which tell your computer which program is needed to open the attachment.  For example '.doc' is a word document.

So the next step is to identify the file extension and the program needed to open it, but at this stage you probably need individual advice. 

Contact The Full Poodle on 01297 443819 for help or email:

info@thefullpoodle.com