Notify antivirus programs when opening attachments Antivirus programs are mandatory in many environments and provide a strong defense against attack. The Notify antivirus programs when opening attachments setting allows you to manage how registered antivirus programs are notified. When enabled, this policy setting configures Windows to call the registered antivirus program and have it scan file attachments when they are opened by users. If the antivirus scan fails, the attachments are blocked from being opened. If this policy setting is disabled, Windows does not call the registered antivirus program when file attachments are opened. To help ensure that virus scanners examine every file before it is opened, Microsoft recommends that this policy setting be configured to Enabled in all environments. Note: An updated antivirus program must be installed for this policy setting to function properly. Counter Measure: Configure the Notify antivirus programs when opening attachments setting to Enabled. Potential Impact: When the Notify antivirus programs when opening attachments setting is Enabled, every downloaded file or e-mail attachment that the user opens will be scanned.

[enable/disable]

(1) GPO: User ConfigurationAdministrative TemplatesWindows ComponentsAttachment ManagerNotify antivirus programs when opening attachments (2) REG: HKEY_USERSSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesAttachmentsScanWithAntiVirus (3) WMI: ###