Hi, I have windows xp, outlook express and incredimail. When emails comes in with attachments. I cannot get them opened. This is the first time having this problem. I have internet explorer 7
Personally I feel you should 'never' try to open an attachment, you never know what kind of thing you are going to let out of the box. Save the attachment to your HDD to a place where you can find it, that move to your HDD should have avast scan the file, depending on the file type and your sensitivity in the Standard Shield.
IE7 shouldn't govern how email attachments are handled unless you are viewing your email on-line with your browser. But if you are using your email program then its security settings may block opening an attachment directly from the email.
Outlook Express has a draconian measure of not allowing you to open any attachment that may be a virus, this has nothing to do with it being a virus, it just blocks attachments by file type. You would be surprised what file types it blocks, the blindingly obvious, .exe files to the ludicrous, .zip and many in between. Basically any file type that could or is commonly infected, however this has been this way for some considerable time.
From the OE, Tools, Options, Security tab, uncheck the option arrowed in my image (click it to enlarge).
I can't speak about Incredimail as I have never used it.