This Friday, I will take a break from the SQL world and share with you a scare that I recently overcame.

XPS or XML Paper Specification is gaining popularity as an alternate document format for exchange over the Internet and E-mail. Sometime in the first week of April, somebody sent me a XPS file for my review via E-mail.

As soon as I attempted to open the file (in Internet Explorer), I encountered the following message:

“Security Error – Your current security settings do not allow this file to be downloaded.” 

I did not expect this. Nothing had changed on my computer – no new installations, no changes to security settings – simply nothing! And yet, I was able to open XPS documents that I generated just fine – but this document that I had received did not open. How is this even possible?

After much toiling (about 20minutes!), I figured out the solution. To protect our security, Microsoft does not trust anything that comes from external sources and was hence blocking the opening of the XPS document because the operating system thought it to be a potential threat.

So, this is what I did:

1. Right-click on the file
2. Click the “Unblock” button in the “Security” section of the “General” file  properties tab
3. Once done, I attempted to open the file, and success!

It’s a different thing altogether that I was not able to complete my review on that day, but it’s okay.

Finally, have you ever come across such an issue? If yes, what was your solution? Do let us know.

Until we meet next time,

Be courteous. Drive responsibly.