Change Outlook attachment security settings using PowerShell

Sometimes, when you receive an e-mail in outlook with an attachment, you receive a message informing you that outlook blocked access to this unsafe attachment.

You receive this message due to a security feature in outlook that blocks attachments with a specific file extension (e.g. *.EXE, *.VBS, *.PS1) that might put your computer at risk. You can’t open, save, or even delete it.

According to Microsoft KB Article #829982, there are four different ways to get your attachment, but these ways will require either the sender to change the file extension and re-send it or the Exchange administrator to change the security policies. The first scenario might fail if your company has a smart e-mail protection solution that scans the file itself regardless the extension. The second scenario always fail because there is no admin on earth would like to put himself and his environment in a risk because of email attachment. :)

Don’t worry, always there is a solution. According to the same KB article you can edit a few registry keys to change the outlook’s attachment security settings on your local machine. But first you should know and always remember that serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. :)

Well, instead of taking the risk of editing the registry manually and corrupting your system. I wrote a GUI PowerShell script that edit registry instead of you to avoid any unwanted changes.

The interface is very simple. All you have to do is just write down the extension, chose wither allow or block, save your changes,  and then restart your outlook.

Download Outlook's Attachment Security Editor

Regards,

Sherif Talaat (Twitter: @Sheriftalaat)