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

When people aren't used to seeing extensions

[Spacelem]

Whenever I see a Windows desktop with file extensions disabled, I always try to explain to the person that they should be switched back on, and most people are quite happy to do so (they only had them off because that was the default).

However I was quite dismayed when I looked at my mother's laptop (which I had installed Linux Mint on for her), and she had no file extensions either. It turned out that she thought they looked untidy, and had gone through and manually removed the extensions from every single file in her home directory!

Fortunately the file and mmv commands made short work of fixing this, but I was surprised to say the least.