Does anybody 'Hide extensions for known file types'?
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The issue that comes up is these average lay persons you speak of, only being aware of "Spreadsheets, Documents and email" will not understand why the Spreadsheet they copied from work doesn't work at home. And almost any attempt to troubleshoot with them may end up a very difficult task.
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There are few things as dull as installing Windows. I'm in the update stage and having downloaded the updates, it's installing them - 141 of them. That's just Windows, once I get Office on there and Visual Studio there'll be all the service packs as it morphs from 'Windows' to 'Microsoft' update. In my set-up routine I always go into file explorer and make all the file extensions show up as I'm simply lost without them. Also hidden files, but this time I'm going to leave system files hidden. So question - does anybody hide file extensions or does everybody turn them back on?
Regards, Rob Philpott.
All the graddies I work with seem to. They seem to know what the damn icons mean and seem very amused when I can't figure out which one of the files is the C++ solution and which is the project, exe or pdb.
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There are few things as dull as installing Windows. I'm in the update stage and having downloaded the updates, it's installing them - 141 of them. That's just Windows, once I get Office on there and Visual Studio there'll be all the service packs as it morphs from 'Windows' to 'Microsoft' update. In my set-up routine I always go into file explorer and make all the file extensions show up as I'm simply lost without them. Also hidden files, but this time I'm going to leave system files hidden. So question - does anybody hide file extensions or does everybody turn them back on?
Regards, Rob Philpott.
This "feature" was most likely created for end users. Not the generic end user, mind you, the type of end user that prompted them to hide which files were being copied in Windows 8, since the "users" cancelled the copying, since they got "scared" due to the file names flashing past (Akin to old movie deletions) Take something simple, like "notepad.exe" Whilst a person with an inch of computing knowledge would see that as "notepad" "dot" "exe", someone without such knowledge would see it as "notepaddotexe" which would be akin to someone WITH knowledge seeing something like "notepad&@&#@&" (Generally a virus created file) Unfortunately MS have to design their OS's for everyone - From the geek that's been using PC's for the past 10 years, to the person that thinks their sink is threatening to kill them...
-= Reelix =-
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Kyudos wrote:
it is just part of the file name.
I was talking about people who have no real understanding of how filenames are structured, or why. They just understand documents and folders.
Use the best guess
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Turning that "feature" off is one of the first things I do on any Windows install. I find it incredibly irritating having to rely in an icon in explorer to determine the file type. I don't know who in their right mind decided "Let's hide file extensions, that seems a great idea!".
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And when there are several files with the same name (minus the extension) with different (or maybe the same) icons (which may not mean anything to the user).. which should be opened/run?
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Like most of the respondents to my comments you have totally missed the point I was making.
Use the best guess
How's that? My point was that you can't hide important information from even novice users and expect better results. Most of those users won't know the difference, but when it matters it really matters. How can anyone provide rational support for users if all they have to go on is "click on the icon that looks like [try to describe an image]", especially in cases were applications just love to remap file type associations (and their icons) when installed. If a user doesn't know what those extensions mean, then fine.. but if you never allow them to make an informed decision (by providing the information naturally available), then supporting those users will always be more effort than it should be.
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How's that? My point was that you can't hide important information from even novice users and expect better results. Most of those users won't know the difference, but when it matters it really matters. How can anyone provide rational support for users if all they have to go on is "click on the icon that looks like [try to describe an image]", especially in cases were applications just love to remap file type associations (and their icons) when installed. If a user doesn't know what those extensions mean, then fine.. but if you never allow them to make an informed decision (by providing the information naturally available), then supporting those users will always be more effort than it should be.
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I was talking about my actual experiences rather than what might happen given certain circumstances. As I said before you (along with a few others) seem to have missed that point.
Use the best guess
And I was talking about my _actual_ experiences also. I had a situation of a directory with many specification files of the same base name and different extensions (the extension determined the version for the spec). It was hard to tell the not-so-technically-inclined user which file to open as it was hard for me to even figure it out. And since several versions had been previously been opened/associated with a text editor, they all had the same (meaningless) icon. I've also seen examples of "released" content (e.g. software or data) that have the same documentation in multiple formats (e.g. .txt, .doc, .rtf, .pdf, .html), all with the same base name in the same directory. So which would give the novice user the best experience and how can they know which one to pick (why view a simple text file with ascii art when they could open a PDF with actual pictures/charts). I thought the point of replying was to provide context from a variety of others' experiences that may differ from just one person's experience. So wouldn't this be hitting the point?
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There are few things as dull as installing Windows. I'm in the update stage and having downloaded the updates, it's installing them - 141 of them. That's just Windows, once I get Office on there and Visual Studio there'll be all the service packs as it morphs from 'Windows' to 'Microsoft' update. In my set-up routine I always go into file explorer and make all the file extensions show up as I'm simply lost without them. Also hidden files, but this time I'm going to leave system files hidden. So question - does anybody hide file extensions or does everybody turn them back on?
Regards, Rob Philpott.
In the discussion of this topic it seems that some have strong reasons to want keep the extensions hidden (as opposed to just that's how MS made it, accept it, and they have no urgent need to change it). Everyone has their own view and their reasons either way of course (and apparently MS had theirs). But while giving it more thought, I came up with a real world parallel that show how silly MS was for hiding them in the first place (imo): *** WARNING --- EXTREME SARCASTIC CONTENT AHEAD - IF YOU LACK HUMOR, STOP READING NOW --- WARNING *** Have you noticed how most (all?) roads have a standard suffix names (e.g. Avenue, Lane, Drive, Road, Loop). Well.. that just seems like unnecessary fluff that should be hidden. So instead of "Maple Drive", it is just "Maple".. instead of "Cherry Lane", just "Cherry". Of course that name on the end means something, but most people don't know or care.. so why not just drop those pesky qualifiers from street signs, maps, and addresses. Yes, some may throw out hypothetical questions like "What if I need to reach Maple Drive, but in this region there is a Maple Drive, Maple Lane, and Maple Avenue? On the map, they are all listed as just Maple." I mean really.. what are the odds this situation would ever come up? Practicality zero! And what if a few out there experience confusion in a few rare scenarios? Why should the masses be bothered by this extra information just to satisfy those few individuals that have what is clearly their problem, not mine. Just accept how much this would simplify our lives -- no more "Daddy, why do all the street signs say "Ave" around our house, but they say "Rd" at my school?" Who wouldn't be glad to not have to deal with that question in their life. I mean really.. can't those kids just be happy with being ignorant about the world. :omg:
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If you receive a file named "playme.exe" and has a Windows Media Player icon, you do need to know the extension. Even if you are a lay person. Or else you cannot even be warned. There is no excuse for not knowing what you're doing.
Martijn Smitshoek wrote:
If you receive a file named "playme.exe"
You're talking about attachments which are handled in a different program, not Windows Explorer.
Martijn Smitshoek wrote:
you do need to know the extension
There is difference between "seeing" an extension, and "knowing" what it means. There is no guarantee that even if a user sees the extension, he's not going to ignore it or worse understand what it means. And this debate can go on endlessly. But again, that's a different issue altogether.
Martijn Smitshoek wrote:
There is no excuse for not knowing what you're doing.
True in general... But your point is? Everyone should get a degree in computer science before touching a computer? The post here refers to people who know and understand the basics. For them, that extension is simply "noise"!
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There are few things as dull as installing Windows. I'm in the update stage and having downloaded the updates, it's installing them - 141 of them. That's just Windows, once I get Office on there and Visual Studio there'll be all the service packs as it morphs from 'Windows' to 'Microsoft' update. In my set-up routine I always go into file explorer and make all the file extensions show up as I'm simply lost without them. Also hidden files, but this time I'm going to leave system files hidden. So question - does anybody hide file extensions or does everybody turn them back on?
Regards, Rob Philpott.
I ALWAYS! unhide file name extensions. I do it on my friends PCs, too, if I get the chance. Leaving them hidden is an extreme security risk and I don't have a clue why that is the default for Windows. Suppose someone sends you a file named FUNNY_CATS.JPG.EXE What do you see when you look at the filename with extensions hidden? Experienced users (like you and me) would notice that the icon is wrong for a JPEG file and immediately suspect it but most users would not notice that.