I am having trouble opening attachments on many emails. A pale yellow message stripe comes up with the paper clip icon in a small grey circle followed by the message, ‘OE removed access to the following unsafe attachments in your mail:’ and then provides the name of the attachment. I use Windows XP Home Edition. Your help would be appreciated as I know most of these blocked attachments should be safe to open.

This problem you are experiencing is because a new security feature, which is present in Outlook Express 6, has become enabled. To open attachments in Outlook Express, go to the ‘Tools’ menu > ‘Options’. Click the ‘Security’ tab. Uncheck the option ‘Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus’. Click OK. You should now be able to open attachments. If not, you may have to close and reopen Outlook Express. For more information on the new security features of Outlook Express 6, have a look at support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;q291387.