ITS | User Services

Email Servers Block Certain Attached Files

Effective December 7, 2004, UNI email servers will be configured to block incoming attachments that are considered to be dangerous. Attachments are considered dangerous if they are directly executable scripts or programs that may contain a virus and should not generally be transfered using email. Some examples of attachments that will be blocked are .exe, .pif, and .scr.

Although we update our virus protection signatures on an hourly basis, we cannot rely 100% on those virus scanning methods. This is because viruses must be released onto the internet before anti-virus software can be updated to detect it. This often leaves several hours or even days where the virus can infect users who are not protected. Because of this, we have chosen to block incoming email attachments that are considered dangerous. Users that need to send or receive these types of attachments should do so by encapsulating the dangerous attachment in a zip archive.

Click here to see how to create zip files.

Attachments that are blocked include: *.ad, *.ade, *.adp, *.ani, *.asp, *.bas, *.bat, *.chm, *.cmd, *.com, *.cpl, *.crt, *.exe, *.hlp, *.hta, *.inf, *.ins, *.isp, *.js, *.jse, *.lnk, *.mdb, *.mde, *.mp3, *.msc, *.msi, *.msp, *.mst, *.pcd, *.pif, *.reg, *.scr, *.sct, *.shb, *.shs, *.url, *.vb, *.vbe, *.vbs, *.vsd, *.vss, *.vst, *.vsw, *.wmf, *.ws, *.wsc, *.wsf, *.wsh

If you need additional assistance please contact the Computer Consulting Center (CCC) at (319) 273-5555. The CCC is located in Room 36 ITTC Building (East Gym). Consultants are available to provide hands-on assistance daily Monday through Friday during University Business Hours.

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Last Updated: Friday, 19-Oct-2007 09:53:36 CDT
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ITS - User Services

Email Servers Block Certain Attached Files