How to enable the display of file extensions in Windows 7, what is a file extension and why is it needed? These questions need to be answered, as well as to talk about changing the extension and about in which cases the user may need it.
What is a file extension?
To begin with, we give an example of an analogy. Let's say you have a lot of different opaque jars with spices and seasonings in your home. All information is written on the jars - the name of the seasoning or spices, the brand, the manufacturer is indicated, the date of manufacture and so on. Now imagine that the name of the contents has been removed from all the jars. What will happen? You cannot use them because you do not know what and where is located.
A file extension is something like a content name. It is indicated most often by three characters (there are also extensions with four or even five characters) and is written at the end of the file name after the period. For example, you created a document in the Notepad application and saved it under the name Zametka. When you save the file, the application will automatically add the extension at the end, and the file name will be displayed as Zametka.txt. It should also be noted that the programs themselves have their own extension (exe, com, msi and others). For example, the same Notepad looks like Notepad.exe.
If the file does not have an extension, then Windows will not be able to determine the program with which it opens, therefore, it will open a window for independent selection of programs.
What to do to show file extensions in Windows 7
The operating system by default hides the extensions of all files that it does not know. We need to change the display function. We will consider the whole process in the Windows 7 environment. The system will only show file extensions after a few clicks:
- You need to open any folder, in the open window in the upper left corner find the "Organize" button. When you click on it, a pop-up menu will appear, in it you need to find the line "Folder and search options" and click on it.
- In the “Folder Options” window that appears, go to the “View” tab. Below is the inscription “Advanced Options”, and below it is a list of these options. The function we need is almost at the very end of the list. Move the slider to the very bottom and find the line "Hide extension for registered file types." Uncheck and click OK.
Such simple manipulations are sufficient to show file extensions in Windows 7.
Why you need to enable display extensions
Suppose you found and downloaded an audio recording - a file called New_Year_music.mp3. Naturally, the music file must open with a player, say AIMP. But after it did not start, and in general nothing seemed to happen. And later it turns out that viruses appeared on the computer.
The fact is that in fact the name of the downloaded is New_Year_music.mp3.exe. That is, the system hid the familiar EXE extension, and you, being astray, launched the virus. This could have been avoided if Windows 7 showed extensions of all files.
As we wrote above, by default, Windows 7 will not show file extensions if it knows which programs to open them. Now imagine that you need to upload a file to some website and you need to specify the full path to it. If the extension is hidden, you won’t succeed.
How to change file extensions in Windows 7 and why you might need it
Changing the file extension is very simple. To do this, right-click the file, and select the “Rename” line in the context menu that appears.
Why might you need to change the file extension? Suppose a user needs to mask the file "My_passwords.txt" so that no one can run it. If you just change the name - Windows, it will still be opened in notepad. But if you rename, for example, like this: System.asd, no one will be able to accidentally open it.
There is another option: some Internet resources do not allow you to download certain types of files. You can get around this limitation by simply changing the extension.