Instead of merely a file named recipe,
you might see recipe.tif if it??™s a scan of a recipe, recipe.pdf if it??™s an Acrobat
file with a recipe inside, or recipe.exe if it??™s a Trojan horse you just received
via email. Sure, you??™ll have to open the file to see whether you??™re making
cookies or explosives, but at least you can anticipate which application will
appear, and will know whether or not you??™ll have to convert it to a different
format before posting it on your Chocolate Chip Anarchist blog.
Having extensions visible also means you can change Windows??™ perception
of the type of a file by merely renaming its extension. (Note that changing a
file??™s extension doesn??™t actually change the contents or the format of the file,
only how Windows interacts with it.)
Now, Microsoft started hiding filename extensions back in Windows 95 (in
a vain attempt to make Windows easier to use), but it??™s never been handled
well. For instance, if you have more than one file, side-by-side, with the
same name, having your extensions hidden just makes things more confusing.
Rather than recipe.jpg, recipe.wpd, and recipe.txt, you??™ll just see recipe,
recipe, and recipe, with only a miniscule icon to distinguish them.
And since only registered filename extensions are hidden, recipe.pdf would
normally appear as recipe.pdf until you install Adobe Acrobat Reader. Once
Acrobat registers the .pdf file type, the .pdf extensions vanish, and the file
will be shown merely as recipe.
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