File extensions, now you seem me, now you don't

Published on October 11, 2009 By CharlesCS In Personal Computing

I know that Windows by default hide the extentions fo just about every file. My question is do you leave the extentions hidden or do you like to be able to see them?

My job has all their extensions visible. I am not sure why but can assume why they do. I can only think of 2 reasons to have the extentions visible.

1) To know what type of file it is. Quite often I tend to activate the show extension option in Windows to know what kind of file I am looking at when I am looking for a program that runs it. It's rare but happens. Also soemtime I don't know what kind of file my images are right at the moment and sometimes some programs and websiteswon't using centain image types.

2) Makes it easier for IT people to see why a file may be causing problems, could be it's not the correct file type or may be a virus of some type.

The downside would be if someone ever decide to change the name of a file, they risk changing the extention too if you are not careful. And judging by the people I hear of tech shows that call with questions, I can tell the average person is not PC knowledgeable enough to avoid making this mistake and being able to fix it afterwards.

Can you give a good reason to have the extentions visible? I would be one of those who would avoid making them visible because even though I am well educated in computers, I will still forget about the extentions when changing names and I change file names quite often. I even have a file name changing program that unless I am careful will easily change the extention names or literally remove them if I am not paying attention to the period that separets the name from the extentions.

Comments

Kitkun

on Oct 11, 2009

I keep 'em visible. I'm the only one who uses this computer and it's helpful to see what's what. Particularly when you run across programs that have the same icon for multiple things.

Lantec

on Oct 11, 2009

Can you give a good reason to have the extentions visible?

Sort by extension. This is handy for things like music or graphics file where gif, jpg, png, bmp etc....all have the same "File Type"

CarGuy1

on Oct 11, 2009

Have to be visible to keep them straight. Easiest way to tell an exe from a shortcut.

ToJKa

on Oct 11, 2009

I started computer usage with text based operating system, so i need them visible to survive

It just seem starnge not to be able to see them, by that three letter designation (sometimes four) i know what it is, and what i should do with it.

CharlesCS

on Oct 11, 2009

Interesting did not really expect to see many responses where they should be seen. Maybe I'll consider doing that. The reasons make perfect sense, even I do those things often.

CharlesCS

on Oct 11, 2009

Darn, thats what i get for rushing this article. I forgot to check spalling and made so many mistakes I almost feel like deleting this article.

Wizard1956

on Oct 11, 2009

Ya can't tell yer .jpg's from yer .bmp's widdout them thar extension thingies a'showin'.

Fuzzy Logic

on Oct 11, 2009

I forgot to check spalling

Spalling?

Kitkun

on Oct 11, 2009

Fuzzy Logic

reply 8

Spalling?

He's taking lessons from Zubaz.

zakai1369

on Oct 11, 2009

I used to leave them hidden because I had no reason to have them showing. But since getting into customizing I always leave them showing now because it is easier than having to go in and switch it everytime I download a Xion skin that someone uploaded as a .zip instead of a .xsf or a Windowblind as a .zip instead of a .wba

CharlesCS

on Oct 12, 2009

Spalling?

LOL, again typing and posting too fast. Shame on me.

DraekAlmasy

on Oct 13, 2009

A simple, logical reason why extensions should be visible:

Jessica_Alba_nude_at_beach.JPG.exe

'nuff said.

And then there are subtler issues, such as images which you may use the same program to view them all, but edit raster ones (JPG, PNG et al) in Paint.NET, vector ones (SVG) in Inkscape, and RAWs from photographic cameras in specialized software like Adobe Lightroom and configuring Windows to do all that is a PITA so its easier to just open the appropiate program and drag-n-drop the relevant file in it, but for that you need to see the extension beforehand to see which one is it.

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