On Mon, 8 May 2000, [log in to unmask] wrote:

> There is a minor problem here that we encounter at our Unversity. We 
> have a text only based e-mial system to cut down on overhead. The 
> problem is that when somebody send an e-mail from a program like 
> Outlook Express in HTML format our system cannot cope with it so 
> unloads all the extra code into an attachment.
> 
> This may be what is happening in some cases on the list. I have opened 
> a few and they do look the same as when this happens on our system. If 
> this is the case maybe it might be worth stating that people make sure 
> they only send text based e-mail's and not HTML based ones.

The Mailbase web-site at http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/ lists guidelines for
the use of the lists.  On the subject of attachments the advice is not to
use them unless you can be sure that the members of the list will be able
to cope with them.  When posting to a smaller list, it might be possible
to be sure of this, but with a large list like lis-link, it is much the
best policy to stick to the lowest common denominator, plain old text.

Incidentally, the HTML based e-mails you often see are mostly sent by
Microsoft Outlook Express.  It is the bad choice of default settings of
this software that helped last week's virus to spread.  Most Outlook users
are unaware that their software is sending out HTML as well as text, and
are only too happy to put it right when told about it.  I sometimes send
out the following file to Outlook users which includes the necessary
instructions.

Matthew Phillips
Assistant Librarian
Christ Church Library
Oxford


Configuring Outlook Express correctly:
--------------------------------------
1. Load Outlook Express

2. Click on the 'Tools' option on the menu bar and select
   'Options...'
   This will open the options control window.

3. Click on the 'Send' tag at the top.

4. Under the "Mail sending format", ensure that the 'Plain
   Text' option is ticked, by clicking on it if needed.

5. Click on the 'Settings' box to the right of this option.

6. Ensure that the option "Encode text using" box is set to
   'None' and click 'OK'.

7. Repeat steps 4-6 for the "News sending format".

8. Ensure that the 'Include message in reply' option is 
   turned OFF - ie. no tick - by clicking on it if required.

9. Click 'OK' to activate your new settings.

Outlook Express should now be setup correctly.
   
Thank you.

-- 
Paul Vigay
     _                       _________________________________
    /_| _ _. _  /| /_ _/_  /'      ANT Technical Support
   /  || (_|(_)/ |/(/_/_  /   mailto:[log in to unmask]
________ (_) ___________./     http://www.argonet.co.uk/ant/



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%