Email Attachment puzzle

Greetings all. This problem is driving me up a wall trying to figure it out. I will try to give as much info as possible. My work PC is a 2.4 GHz system running Windows 2000. I am using Office 2003 and, therefore, Outlook 2003 for my email. Up until 2 weeks ago, I was using Outlook 2000 (office 2000). I routinely email documents home to work on them if needed due to deadlines (Word, Excel, etc.). I am currently using Verizon DSL and Verizon's web-based email to receive my files. I have not yet set up Outlook Express or any other email program. While using Outlook 2000, I never had any problems. I now am... and is thus the reason for this question.

If I send myself an email with an attachment in the normal manner, ie... Click on 'Attach File', the file appears in the body of the email. THe file shows name and size. The email has, from the top down, the following: TO, CC, Subject. When I receive the email at Verizon, it shows the file, along with the size, BUT..  under the 'Attachments' column, the paperclip is missing. When I click on "Download Attachment", the file comes up as zero (0) bytes... empty. If I send the same file, in the same manner to my Yahoo account, I get the file correctly. Okay, sounds like Verizon is messing with attachments.. right? That's what I thought at first.

If I right-click on the same file on my desktop, select "send to", my email opens up and the filename now appears in an additional line on my email. In other words, from top to bottom, I have TO, CC, Subject, Attachment. The file name and type now appear in the attachment line, and in the body of the email is just a simple text of the file name. In my Verizon email, the file now shows as an attachment, and I can open it properly.

I can also recieve the file properly if it is FORWARDED to my Verizon email. This is driving me nuts. Yes, I can get around it by using the right-click method or sending it to myself at work then forwarding it, but I would really like to figure this out. Is it Verizon somehow? But if so, why can I get it properly if I use the right-click-send method? If it is Outlook 2003, then why do I get it correctly doing it the normal way when I send it to my Yahoo account? Please help before I go totally insane. My IT department has been no help, though they have tried.

By the way, I also did the following experiment: I had a co-worker, running Windows XP with Outlook XP send a Word Doc to my verizon email. I watched as he did it. When he clicked on Attachment, it attached the file and added the additional line (attachment) to his email. I received the email and attachment correctly in Verizon.... crazy!!