Why in Windows is the default to hide file extensions for known file types? Some of the other annoying default folder options I can sort of understand - you don’t want Joe Newbie deleting important files. But how does hiding file extensions help?
(1) If file extensions are shown, renaming the file can destroy the file association. I’ve seen relative novices panic as Word documents become ‘unreadable’ (well, to their mind anyway).
(2) Some just prefer things to look like that. They want to see the file information that means something to them, not the suffix.
Some people prefer the Mac look, which is probably why that option is there. However, I never hide file extensions and set everyone’s machines at work to not hide them because if there is a virus file with a double extension (such as mundanefile.doc.pif) it will hide the extension and the file will appear to be a regular file. Someone might see a .pif file and immediately be suspicious that it could be a virus but they wouldn’t think the same thing about a .doc file.
I found it nearly impossible to code webpages (manually) on my office peecee before I worked out how to un-hide the file extensions. Otherwise you don’t know whether you’re referencing a jpeg or a jpg (or if it’s a gif) an htm or an html.
Even more damn frustrating is the way Windows insists on converting a .htm or .html text file into a webpage, so when you double click it, it opens in Internet Explorer instead of the text editor. HATE that!
You can change that behavior, you know. View->Folder Options->File Types on Win2k.
Gawd, I hate it when the file extensions are hidden; I create a .bat (or .csv or .dat or .htm or something) file in Notepad but forget to save it as the right extension; no problem, I’ll just rename it - wrong! - I end up with MyFile.txt.bat.
This is one of my most-hated Window features.
It’s all part of the dumbing-down of Windows to the lowest common denominator. Microsoft thought that newcomers would find the concept of file extensions difficult to handle (yeah, right) so by default (since Windows runs in newbie mode by default) the file extensions are hidden.
As others have pointed out, this default has caused many problems with evil VBS macros mascarading as JPGs, etc.
It’s a bit like the way cascading menus have a short by annoying delay built into them by default (e.g. when you click the “Start” menu) - it was thought that beginners would be intimidated by menus that appear instantly. You can turn this behavior off by changing a Registry value called “MenuShowDelay” (look for it on Google).
For people who don’t know about this, it’s very simple to un-hide file extensions in Windows 98. In a Windows Explorer Window, click on the View menu, then Folder Options… (at the bottom). Click on the View tab, and then in the Advanced Settings box, make sure the “Hide file extensions for known file types” box is unchecked. I’m sure it’s as easy in other versions of Windows, but probably not the same.
Mac envy. Mac files don’t (or didn’t until recently) have file extensions. (The code that associates each file with an application is completely separate from the file name).
Back in the days of DOS and Windows 3.x, many PC users expressed frustration that they couldn’t have nice file names like “Annual Report” instead of “ANNREPT.DOC” and so when Microsoft implemented long file names with Windows95 they not only gave PC users the ability to create and display file names like “Annual Report.doc” (moving from an 8 character limit past the Mac’s vaunted 32 all the way to 256, permitting PC users to name their files things like “Annual Report to the Eastern Conference as Given at the Sheraton in Palisades NJ, First Revision.doc”) – they also gave PC users the ability to hide the extension.
Under it all, the raw system for managing the file structure considered the file to be named ANNUALR~.DOC or an incremented variant of that if there were more than one file sharing those same 8 letters in the same part of the directory structure, so since the entire long file name was an end user convenience, why not hide the extension, too? Keeps all those stupid newbies from changing the file association (as mentioned above), the extensions are butt-ugly anyhow (as I mentioned), and the moderately sophisticated user will know the extension (or get a pretty good idea of it) from the appearance of the file’s icon.
Meanwhile, we of the Macintosh persuasion, with our new/old operating system that’s an updated sleek modern incarnation of ancient old Unix, now get to make the same choice–while our OS does not require extensions, it supports them as one means of associating files with applications, and our applications themselves tend to exist within “wrapper” folders that pretend to be files and end in the extension “.app”. (Thrills, file extensions! :rolleyes: )
Totally aside, but even as a long-term Windows user I had to chuckle about the full-page ad that Apple ran when Windows 95 was released.
It was a big blank page, with in the middle just the text:
CONGRATS.W95
Yep, I remember that ad.
The shoe is on the other foot now. For the longest time, there wasn’t much real everday use or need for file names longer than 32 characters, so the ability of the Microsoft OS’s to do 256 characters wasn’t giving us an inferiority complex.
Then came MP3s.
Led Zeppelin-Led Zeppelin 4 (ZoSo, no title)-3-The Battle of Evermore (VBR-hi quality).mp3
Fooey. The ability to dispense with the “.mp3” extension just doesn’t fix the problem. In MacOS 8 or 9 I have to rename the file “LedZep4-3-Battle of Evermore.mp3”.
I’m a bit of a curmudgeon about MacOS X (there are things I like about it and things I don’t, but it is no more intrinsically the same OS as the regular MacOS than it is intrinsically the same as Windows NT, and in some ways resembles the latter more than the former), but I do very much like this UniCode support.
Oh, and I don’t hide my bloody file extensions under MacOS X.
Hey, 's funny no-one has mentioned this before. Microsoft make a really cool, under-promoted suite of tiny little apps called PowerToys (it’s on every windows98x CDROM, but needs to be downloaded from their site if you’re using XP, NT, 2k, or 95).
One of the apps is called “TweakUI” is an absolute MUST for anyone who uses a windows box a lot. Most of the things it can do can be hacked in the registry, but this is much neater and faster (and more flexible).
Some of the things you can change include:
menu pop-up speed, 0 - 255 (!)
drag speed
windown animation (oohh, pet hat of mine!)
list- and combo-box animation
“smooth scrolling”
“do not prefix “shortcut to” on new shortcuts”
use a ‘light’ arrow icon on shortcuts (much nicer)
turn off desktop icons you don’t like / need (recycle bin, IE, my docs, my computer, etc)
change the list of files that are in the list, when you choose to “create new” from a right-clikc (and for send to)
some cool “paranoia” options (resetting MRU’s and histories)
dozens of other things. Win2k and XP have a kick-arse version with dozens more options, that affect the UI (mouse shadow! autoplay stuff for cd’s and external drives).
I cannot say enough good things about TweakUI, and I am surprised not many ppl seem to know about it. I assumed everyone did.
There are some other well cool things with PowerToys (and some really hokey ones). One I use all the time (still! in XP!) is “dos prompt here” - context sensitive (If you don’t know what that means, it’s unlikely to be any use to you).
Another PowerToy is “round clock”. waste of space - surely no one wants this?!
Anyway, PowerToys are free, easy to install, and very useful in making an PITA OS bareable.
for XP:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp
For other MS OS’s, look on your OS CD for “powertoys”, or just go to MS’s site, and search for it.
Hope this helps someone out there.
abby[ul]
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cngrts.msf
pwrtys.btw, isntvlb.now 4W98SE.dos. mthfkr.sss.
uhv2dl.via intrnt.BFS
Well, it’s either support file extensions in MacOS X, or try to convince the rest of the world to use metadata and creator/type flags. Guess which idea is easier to actually make reality?
Actually, file extensions in MacOS X are supposed to get a significant tweak in the next major release (the “Jaguar” version coming in a few months). The default behavior is to have them hidden, but if you save/rename a file and explicitly put an extension on it, then it will show the extension that you use. Ostensibly this will let the newbie users ignore extensions without breaking inter-platform compatability, but let the pro users change or assign extensions on a file-by-file basis and have them show up. I’m holding final judgement until I see it in action, but I have to admit it sounds like a decent compromise on paper.
I agree abby, I also use the command prompt here. However, I had to set it up manually, after removing the powertoys version. For some reason it set itself up as the default option in the list view side of explorer. Which means that every time I double-clicked a folder, to explore it, I would get the dos screen… very frustrating
Anyone find a PowerToys version for WindowsME?
I can only see a W95 one (or will that work too?)