Willie from FL writes:
To remove a virus, I had to download a file and rename both the filename and the file extension. Windows 7 won’t let me change the extension. How can I do that?
There are a couple of ways to do this, so I’ll show you the easier Windows-based way of turning on file extension editing. I highly recommend once you’ve edited the file extensions to turn this feature back off, as turning “mydocument.doc” into just “mydocument” can have some bad results – such as the file not being able to be opened by regular double-clicking.
So, open My Computer or Computer by clicking Start then Computer. Now hold down the Alt key on the keyboard and press the T key. This should bring up the tools menu. Click on Folder options.
Click on the View tab, then scroll down to “Hide extensions for known file types” and uncheck the box. Click Apply then OK.
Now you can navigate to the file you need to change and you will see both the file name and the extension. You can right click on a file and left click Rename to change the name and extension.
Once again, when you’ve completed the changes I highly recommend going back into folder options and rechecking the “Hide extensions for known file types.”
~Tim
Tags: change file extension, change file extension windows 7, file extension
If you are smart enough to know what a file type is, do NOT hide the known file type extensions!!! an EXE file is a known file type and is a way for a virus to hide itself… there are viruses that will call themselves “friendly.doc.exe” for instance… you will see it as a “safe” document but clicking on it will start the executable because only the LAST extension is valid… if it is hidden, you will not know this.
Please do not make it any easier for the crackers and virus sending thugs, educate yourself on what the critical file types are and know what you are clicking on! How about an article on what the common extensions actually are and what they might do…
I have had the “Hide extensions for known file types” uncecked every since installing W7 years ago. No known problems have occured.
“I highly recommend going back into folder options and rechecking the ‘Hide extensions for known file types.’” Please be more specific as to the problems that can be encountered.
There are a couple of ways to do this. What is ther 2nd way?
Thanks.
It’s hard to come by well-informed people on this topic, but you sound like you know what you’re talking about!
Thanks