File extensions shown in file name??

[Guest]

Something weird has happened and now all of my files have the file extension
at the end of the file names. for example my a video file will say
"filename.avi" When trying to change the name of the file a message pops up
saying "If you change a file name extension, the file may become unusable."
If I erase the ".avi" part of the name the file is unrecognizable by windows
and if I replace the ".avi" to the end of the file it goes back to normal.

Can anyone help me with this? I'm not sure if it's a fault of windows or
something I installed. If anyone has ever had this problem before and can
help that would be awesome!

THANKS!

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Hi DieStimme,

Though you can hide the extensions for known file types, I'd not recommend
that.

Please see: Stop Getting Tricked into Running Viruses:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/security/learnmore/tips/gobaud1.mspx

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Something weird has happened and now all of my files have the file extension
at the end of the file names. for example my a video file will say
"filename.avi" When trying to change the name of the file a message pops up
saying "If you change a file name extension, the file may become unusable."
If I erase the ".avi" part of the name the file is unrecognizable by windows
and if I replace the ".avi" to the end of the file it goes back to normal.

Can anyone help me with this? I'm not sure if it's a fault of windows or
something I installed. If anyone has ever had this problem before and can
help that would be awesome!

THANKS!

 

[Guest]

Thanks Ramesh. I do actually remember messing with my firewall and doing
some port forwarding and they asked me to uncheck that option awhile back. I
guess I just had a retarted moment and didn't know how to hide the
extensions. Thanks for the help!

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

You're welcome, DieStimme.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Thanks Ramesh. I do actually remember messing with my firewall and doing
some port forwarding and they asked me to uncheck that option awhile back.
I
guess I just had a retarted moment and didn't know how to hide the
extensions. Thanks for the help!

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

DieStimme wrote:

Are you a singer?

Something weird has happened and now all of my files have the file
extension at the end of the file names. for example my a video file
will say "filename.avi"

There's nothing weird at all about that. They have always had them. You just
had the default option set to not display them. You apparently changed that
option, and, as far as I'm concerned, that's very good, not bad. The default
of not showing them is a terrible one, in my view, and can easily get you
into trouble because you never really know what you're looking at.

When trying to change the name of the file a
message pops up saying "If you change a file name extension, the file
may become unusable."

That's correct. It's a good warning.

If I erase the ".avi" part of the name the file
is unrecognizable by windows and if I replace the ".avi" to the end
of the file it goes back to normal.

Exactly. It's the file extension that identifies to Windows what kind of a
file it is, and what program should be used to process it. That's why you
should normally never change the extension of a file.

Can anyone help me with this? I'm not sure if it's a fault of
windows or something I installed. If anyone has ever had this
problem before and can help that would be awesome!

I'm not sure what help you're looking for. There's no problem that needs to
be fixed. What you describe is the normal situation. You can set it back to
the default of hiding the extension if you want, but I definitely recommend
against it.

If I've misunderstood, and you have a problem I don't see, please explain
it.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Something weird has happened and now all of my files have the file extension
at the end of the file names. for example my a video file will say
"filename.avi" When trying to change the name of the file a message pops up
saying "If you change a file name extension, the file may become unusable."
If I erase the ".avi" part of the name the file is unrecognizable by windows
and if I replace the ".avi" to the end of the file it goes back to normal.

Yes, that's the way it's supposed to work.

Can anyone help me with this?

Help with what, precisely? What you describe is exactly the way it's
supposed to be.

I'm not sure if it's a fault of windows or
something I installed. If anyone has ever had this problem before

It's *NOT* a problem; It's normal behavior.

and can
help that would be awesome!

If you don't want to see the file extensions, for some obscure reason,
simply return your Windows Explorer view options to hide them.


--

Bruce Chambers

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