When sending an email that contains an attachment, you must be careful of the filename because some virus scanners, like McAfee, can be fooled into thinking the attachment is a virus when it is not. This is usually the case when the file contains a period in its name. The best method of avoiding your files from becoming marked as a virus is to not use a period in the filename. Try using an underscore, hyphen or nothing instead.
The only period that should be in a filename is the period that is displayed before the file extension. Most computers, by default, are set to hide the file extension, so you probably don't even see them. For example, a word document may show up as "RIT Conference Notes" if your computer is set to hide the file extension. If not, it will show up as "RIT Conference Notes.doc" The period before the "doc" is the separator for the extensions and is the only period in the filename that will not trigger a virus scanner.
If the file was called "RIT Conf. Notes.doc", the period after "Conf" would trigger the virus scanner and mark the attachment as a possible MIME type virus. In this case, you should name your file "RIT Conf Notes.doc" before transmitting it over email.
Also be aware that if your computer is set to hide the file extension and you added ".doc" to the filename manually, the true filename will be "RIT Conf Notes.doc.doc" which would trigger the virus scanner. Oh the joys of Windows and its file extensions. For information on how to change or view your settings in Windows, visit the Tech Support website at http://techsupport.cob.rit.edu/windows/xp/fileext.asp.
We realize that this is a bit confusing and if you have any questions or concerns about file attachments, please feel free to contact COB Technical Support.