Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 9:19 pm Post subject: Attachment
Attachment
A file sent by email is 'attached' to the email. An attachment can be a picture, a word processor document, a program or any other type of file. You should never open an attachment if you are not sure what it is, because some viruses propagate as email attachments; but they can't infect your machine if you don't open the attachment. Word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and other software allows you to format a document (centering, changing fonts and font sizes, defining tables, margin size, etc) by the use of hidden codes. In order to send a document with the same fonts, page layout, etc. through email, you must send both the words and the hidden codes. Hidden codes are usually non-printing characters; since you can't type these characters from your keyboard, you can't put these codes directly into an email message. Someone figured out how to trick Email into sending these codes, anyway - but first, the codes must be disguised as printable characters.
When the words and hidden format instructions are translated together into a code made up of all printable characters, you get what appears to be a big jumble of nonsense; BUT, it WILL travel through the Internet. Is there only one kind of translation scheme? Of course not; there are several in use throughout the internet. Common translation schemes include MIME, BINHEX, and UUENCODE. The jumbled up message is referred to as an "Email Attachment". The attachment always "rides" inside your Email message across the Internet. It is referred to as an "attachment" because it is hoped that your Email program is smart enough, to parse the incoming jumble and automatically recompose it into your original message and separate, formated documents. Unfortunately, many Email programs will NOT handle all of these formats for you. That's when the jumble arrives stuck as a jumble inside your message.
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