When I receive photographs (jpg files) as an attachment to an email and save it to my harddrive, the file creation date is automatically changed to the current date even though the file had a much earlier date when it was sent. This is very annoying since I would like to know when the photographs were taken. Is there a way to prevent Outlook from automatically redating those jpg files?

I think this is the result of how the operating system creates files. There is an ambiguity of whether the the original or current time is used. A big pain. I have a similar problem of matching attachments and included images with the time/date of a message if I retrieve the message much later than when it was sent.

The answer to your question would be no. Life is more painless for those who are brainless.

You can't prevent Outlook from using it's own date but you could use a utility to change the date to the desired one.