The Outlook and Outlook Express email Message
Preview Pane is a convienent feature, but it also comes with the risk of catching a malware by
enabling it, especially if you do not have your antivirus program up to date. Just by previewing a potentially
hostile email message in the Preview Pane, you are actually opening up the email message. It is best to disable the Preview Pane for security reasons in Outlook and Outlook
Express. In Outlook, you can choose which folders you want to use the Preview Pane with. I suggest disabling the Preview
Pane on the Inbox. It may be safe to use on other email folders if you keep your antivirus and
your Microsoft updates current. With the stripped down Outlook Express it is either on or off and cannot be set on
individual folders.
To disable the preview pane in Outlook
Express:
Select View, Layout from the Menu in Outlook Express.
Make sure Show preview
pane is not checked.
Click OK.
To disable the Preview Pane in Outlook:
Click on the folder you want to modify (Inbox, Outbox, Sent etc), then click
on View from the Outlook Menu and click on Preview Pane to select it or deselect it.
A feature you MAY want to enable on your Inbox is the Auto Preview, which only gives the first few lines
in the email and does not open it up.
