Why We Should Stop Hiding File-Name Extensions

An anonymous reader writes 14 years after the Anna Kournikova virus took advantage of users' ignorance about file-name extensions in order to wreak worldwide havoc, virus writers and hackers are still taking advantage of the tendency of popular consumer operating systems to hide file-name extensions: Windows users still need to activate extension visibility manually – even though email-transmitted viruses depend most on less savvy users who will never do this. Additionally applications on even the latest versions of Apple's OSX operating system still require the user to 'opt in' to including a file-name extension during an initial save. In looking at some of the eccentricities of the modern user experience, this article argues that it might be time to admit that users need to understand, embrace and responsibly use the only plain-text, obvious indicator of what a file actually is.

Comments

Are you nuts?

[Anne Thwacks]

The malware writers will never agree to i!

Re:Good operating systems Dont.

[Gerald]

I can't get OS X to hide extensions on my machine. Is there a special flag you have to pass to ls?

That's the problem

[Anonymous Coward]

This seems irrelevant. If you have a jpeg with a TXT extension, Windows at least will treat the file as a text file not an image.

Exactly. That's idiotic. If I walked up to you and stuck a sticker with ".cat" onto your back, would you meow?

What a file is, and the portion of the filename after the final dot, if any, should not have anything to do with one another. The assumption that any random file is what it says on the tin may have worked fine when computers were slow and security consisted of a big lock on the door to your office, but it has no place in 2015.

Re:And why is hiding shit the default in Win serve

[PPH]

doing UUCP support with someone who has to have Unix characters (like bang and pipe)

Odd. I found most receptionists understood what I meant by bang and pipe perfectly well.