Setting Mail to block pest attachments

I am looking for a way to edit out or block those 'auto open' attachments that people send over and over again. I have set my inbox to only receive mail from my contacts list. Unfortunately, my relatives and friends are the offenders! They like this stuff and they love sharing it. They have their mass mailing group lists which they use for all mail, not just this pest mail and I have not been able to get myself off their lists.

Is there a way to receive mail from those you want to receive mail from and be able to block the auto open attachment? I would like to be able to do this as an edit if at all possible. Relegating them to junk status is not an option as they include stuff in their mailings that I want to read. Sometimes they attached family pictures as attachments and I do not want to block them ... makes it more complex.

I am using Windows Live Mail on Vista and W7.

 

Excellent JR, that is exactly what I am looking for. Thank you so much.

You would think that MS would offer this as a user option in preferences. As it is a registry change, I guess I will have to redo it if WL gets a version update in the future.