Many of my close friends knows that I live without an antivirus. It’s not that they are not good but I just don’t like something hogging and slowing down my computer. The only security software that I use is Zemana AntiLogger to monitor keylogger, injection, startup and NetLimiter as a connection monitor or firewall. One of the annoyance that I have been experiencing for the longest time is when I try to send an executable EXE or compressed ZIP file, a File Transfer Warning window will popup telling me that “You have chosen to transfer a file which may be unsafe” and and “You must enable virus scanning software to transfer this file” with the Continue button disabled or grayed out.

So far the method I used to bypass this error is to send the file in an unknown file extension. For example, if the file name is test.exe, I would send it as test.ex and ask the receiver to rename the file as test.exe. The same goes to .zip which I’ll rename as .zipp and ask to rename as .zip. Finally I got tired of this annoying error and figured out a way on how to send and receive “unsafe” file extension in Windows Live Messenger without installing an antivirus.

At the File Transfer Warning window, there is an Options button where you can manually set the path of the antivirus, and an Install button where you can download Windows Live OneCare Safety Scanner. Using Microsoft’s Safety Scanner is probably the last thing I want to do so I wouldn’t want to click on that button.

After testing, I found out that the Windows Live Messenger “Scan files for viruses using” checkbox option at File Transfer is not strict. Simply checking the box and then clicking the Apply button will do the trick without even specifying the path to an antivirus. If you’re not sure where it is, simply follow the simple steps below:

1. Click on Tools at the menubar and select Options
2. Click on File Transfer at the left hand sidebar.
3. Check the checkbox that says “Scan files for viruses using” and followed by OK.

Now when you try to send any unsafe file extension, you will still get a File Transfer Warning window but you will notice that you can now click the Continue button to send the file. That should solve the problem on your side but do note that the receiver will also have the same problem if he/she doesn’t have an antivirus. Just guide them to enable the checkbox will do the trick.