WeIrD E-mail corrumption

[Jennifer]

I know someone who does a lot of mass e-mailing with me being one of the recipients. Every time I receive an e-mail with an attachment from him, I get the error message that says:

"Word encountered file corruption while opening
C:\WINDOWS\...\Templates\Normal.dot. Part of this document may be recoverable.
Attempt recovery now?
YES or NO

Even though I click on the YES I've been able to read the e-mail just find with no virus detected or any other problems. I've talked to others and they say that their not getting an error message from him.

This e-mail attachment is a calendar made in MS Word.

Any one ever had this problem or know the cause?
This is a Windows 98 OS

thanks,
---------------
Jenn...

[Budfred]

Do you have MS Word or Office on your system? Normal.dot is a Word file that is usually associated with another Word file. If you don't have Word, it probably wouldn't be able to read it.

Budfred

[Paul Komski]

Normal.dot is the default Template on your HDD that sets up a New Word Document; though it would be unusual to invoke it when opening another Word Document, unless something like a Macro inside it is calling on a new Document to be opened.

You said this happens every time you receive a forwarded attachment from your contact, which sounds a bit bizarre if true.

(1) At what stage do you get this message? On first receipt of the eMail or when you try to open the attachment?

(2) Are you using OE or another mail client and do you know which client and OS your contact is using? (You may get this information by asking him or by viewing the eMail's Properties by R-clicking on it in the inbox folder if you are using OE).

(3) What is the exact filename of the attachment?

(4) Can you save the attachment to disk and not open it directly from the eMail?

I would suggest you never directly open any eMail attachment you receive (even if you are sure it is a safe attachment) and then scan it with an uptodate antivirus before doing anything else with it. This is particularly the case with any Office files, like Word Documents, since Macros inside them can activate viruses and they contain other M$ vulnerabilities.

I think the most likely cause is either incompatibility between your eMail clients (or OSes, particularly if your friend uses a Mac) or incompatibility between different versions of Word. But more info is required please.

PS Which version of Office/Word do you have installed and have you tried a reinstall/repair option from ControlPanel AddRemovePrograms. :p