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What is a notepad attachment? Do you mean a .txt file type (or some other file type that is supposed to open with Notepad)? Go to Start / Default Programs / Associate a File or Protocol with a Program and scroll to the file type of the attachment (the three digit extension following the filename) and make sure Notepad is selected to open that file type. Does this happen with ALL Notepad attachments? Try opening a Notepad file on your system that you can read and e-mail it to yourself and see if you can read it from the email - if so then the process is working correctly and the issues is with these attachments.
If Notepad is correctly selected, perhaps these file extensions are incorrect - they do not represent the actual file type of the file (so Vista is using the wrong program to try to open them). Or maybe the extensions are correct, but they were created by another program that Notepad can't read (that happens with some programs where Notepad is considered the default but can't read such files because they were created in a way that Notepad can't interpret). Find out from the sender what program was used to create the files - you may need to get some program that can view those file types.
I hope this helps.
Good luck!
Lorien - MCSE/MCSA/Network+/A+ --- If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.