The Windows Feature You SHOULDN'T Ignore - File Extensions Explained 

That feature makes people vulnerable for virusses. They don't know they're running a program when they think they open a photo

This, every time. Blows my mind how something so useful is disabled by default.

Same. Having extensions disabled by default - seriously MS? Any security minded person can see how this can lead to problems. Then again this decision was made way back when security was low on list of priorities and as such is problably a legacy carryover from that era. They recently changed the default safely remove option. Here's hoping they will eventually get around to disabling extension hiding by default.

@@Raivo_K remove puts files into the trashbin anyway.

@@mokubakaiba1751 there is a notification before you change the extension

Or uses Linux.

and shows Libre office a little while later

You can run Windows on a MBP... shouldn't you?! ;)

Macs run Windows, VM or Bootcamp but they definitively do

2008 Mac Pro here running Windows 10, and only Windows 10 (seriously the HD has nothing else on it).. Runs it great.

Yeah, keep the titles catchy, but give people an idea as to what to expect in the video.

Yeah seems kind of weird to have an ambiguous title on a video that's meant to be educational.

I already know this stuff shown in the video

@@Phrost1338 Good for you, so did i A lot of Other people don't

They made a video about the clickbaity title's. They said if they don't use the clickbaity titles, they lose a hell of a lot of potential views. They noted that literally any title with the word Apple in it and/or the Apple logo in the thumbnail are the biggest influencers for views.

It analyses both name extension and file header. It knows what kind of file it is but still opens on the default program for the file type. If you rename a jpeg to .txt it will open on the text editor, but if you '$ file -F , photo.txt' it will tell you that it's a photo file.

They never use file extensions. The fact that many files have them is just because it's a nice convention that makes files easier to identify. And of course some programs will look at it as well, depending on how they are coded. But Linux never cares about file extension and that's an important thing to remember when using it - for example Linux has no native file associations. A desktop environment program emulates that functionality by simply calling the configured executable and passing the file to it. In some cases this can lead to memory leaks if the program is not coded to detect when it has an instance running and reuse existing process, and opens a new process to handle the file instead. Early versions of Android Studio had this problem for example.

exactly and it IS efficient, actually it is way more reliable than hoping the file has the right extension...

Yeah in case your file extension is edited, just remove it completely and there's a very good chance it'll open it with a suitable program. If I edit the extension then it'll actually open the file with the program fitting the extension (at least in KDE Plasma)

@@JR-mk6ow true but in the case where there is no extension they know what to pick

Same, I'm techy person and I need sometimes to change file type.

I do that

Same. Having extensions disabled by default - seriously MS? Any security minded person can see how this can lead to problems. Then again this decision was made way back when security was low on list of priorities and as such is problably a legacy carryover from that era. They recently changed the default safely remove option. Here's hoping they will eventually get around to disabling extension hiding by default.

Let it show, let it show.

They have extensions hidden by default because most people _aren't_ tech savvy and can accidentally delete the extension when renaming a file rendering it useless.

one of the few things i whish linux did more like windows

@@sephirothbahamut245 I don't know, I really like the fact that things don't generally have extensions on linux. Especially the fact that you aren't limited to a single type of executable, as you pretty much are on Windows. Well I guess you have msi and a few others as well as exe, but the ability to just have executing python 2/3 files, bash files, compiled binaries, etc all as executables makes the linux environment really flexible compared to Windows.

@@lost4468yt most of what you're calling "executable types" are actually simple files that are opened by an interpreter, exactly like on windows. .bat is opened by the command line, .py is opened by a python interpreter, .jar was opened by a java vm (until the standard switched to wrapping jars in an executable). Extensions let you have a reference point of what type is opened with what program, which you can totally manipulate; and that ties to the "set default for the following formats" in various programs installers. In my dreams i'd have a linux-like package manager, but windows-like individual software installers once you get the package, since various programs might offer different options upon installation, and a windows-like file extension system. It's one of the few things that makes customization quite straightforward even for not-so-techy users.

@@sephirothbahamut245 >most of what you're calling "executable types" are actually simple files that are opened by an interpreter, exactly like on windows Those are exactly what executables are on Linux. All an executable is in Linux is a file with exec permissions, which the kernel will then either check for a shebang, or check if the file format is registered with binfmt. What exactly do you think makes a bash file marked as executable just "a simple file", but an elf marked as an executable, a real executable? You only view it like that because you're so used to the Windows system, where exes are treated differently, which makes no sense. What is the difference? >.bat is opened by the command line, .py is opened by a python interpreter, .jar was opened by a java vm Which is exactly why the Windows system is such a mess. The first reason being that this means that whether a file is executable or not is determined by the extension, which is just crazy. It means I can turn a non-executable file into something to be executed just by changing the name of it. This is especially silly for files like python scripts, where very often you would only want one or a few scripts out of many to be executable. With the python example a poorly programmed python script could actually cause damage if the wrong script was executed. Another reason for this is that it means that the user has to have their system set right. On linux a python script is interpreted with the python interpreter because the python script itself says it should be. But on Windows the python script is handed off to whatever the user has ".py" align to on their system. Oh that's a Python 2 script, not a Python 3 script? Doesn't matter, Windows will treat them the same. Windows accidentally reset your file formats (which I have had happen), well a bunch of stuff just broke for you. >Extensions let you have a reference point of what type is opened with what program, which you can totally manipulate; and that ties to the "set default for the following formats" in various programs installers. You know what also gives you a reference point? The file command. Run that on a file and it will tell you exactly what type of executable it is, and what's better is you can't be tricked by the extension. If someone has changed a python script to .sh it will still tell you that it's a python script, and again because of how much more sensible the linux method is, it will still execute as a python file. >In my dreams i'd have a linux-like package manager Have you tried chocolatey? >but windows-like individual software installers once you get the package, That kind of defeats the one of the main purposes of a package manager. What you're talking about seems to be more equivalent to a database of program installers. >since various programs might offer different options upon installation You can do that with the vast majority of package managers anyway, there's nothing stopping that. There are tons of packages which add their own menu to the installer. An example I can think of off the top of my head is postfix and apt. Most packages just don't do this though as small changes are generally handled through config files, and large changes are built as multiple packages. Saying that though, you rarely even see a Windows installer ask you much more than "install for current user or everyone". >It's one of the few things that makes customization quite straightforward even for not-so-techy users. I don't agree, it generally makes it easy for non-tech users to mess things up.

@@lost4468yt > What is the difference? - Less than you think. A python script is still threated differently from executable binaries on linux, and it's a file opened by the (on linux generally preinstalled) python interpreter, exactly like on windows. Only raw binaries are really executed in any OS of this planet. That's what windows gives the .exe extension. > It means I can turn a non-executable file into something to be executed just by changing the name of it - Exactly like I can turn a non-executable file into something to be executed just by running a 2 words console command on Linux. Are we comparing utility here or how much the user can mess things up? Because there's no limit to that in either system. Also, try to turn a random file in a .exe on windows or give the executable flag to a random file in linux. The chances of it actually running instead of being stopped as invalid binaries is so small it can be considered non-existent. > The file command. Run that on a file and it will tell you exactly what type of executable it is - what it thinks it is, not all "executables" as in scripts that must be read and interpreted by an actual executable, have an header telling the type of the script before bytecode or similar. Make a bash script, it'll have no header. That's based on pure assumption by the file command based on reading the content. Why do you think in a ruby script you should write "#!/usr/local/bin/ruby -w" at the beginning? It helps your os to know what the file when treated as "executable" should be opened as an argument of. That's the same information windows associates with file formats rather than individual files, and it applies to any file, not just scripts. By the OS point of view (and this is true for linux too) calling an interpreter with a script as argument or calling a picture viewer with a picture as argument is exactly the same. It will run the interpreter/picture viewer binaries with the filepath as argument; that interpreter/picture viewer will determine what to do with that file and its content. > What you're talking about seems to be more equivalent to a database of program installers. - The package manager can still handle getting, updates, and removing. But it'd be nice to have setup options popup when you install a program with meaningful setup options, instead of having a "first run" kind of execution branch as part of the program itself. Imagine something big as visual studio. Installing it without optional content would mean you have to manually start it right after installation to get the "first run options". It makes much more sense to have it work like it does now, where the installer asks you which packages you want installed (if you never used it, it supports many languages, most of which you might no need, so upon installation you tell "hey i want only c++ and python") > There are tons of packages which add their own menu to the installer - i guess i simply never met one then. And do you really think that modifying a script's shebang is that much harder than modifying a file's name extension?

Uninformative to you maybe... you wouldn't believe the number of longtime windows users I have to teach this to. As for the clickbait, they explained that if they don't do goofy thumbnails and clickbait titles they loose lots of viewership, so they are not really going to care if you don't like it... for them it is cost of doing business on RU-vid. EDIT: Its good they changed the title so people looking for help can actually find it. Sorry I mistook your post.

@@WolvenSpectre Surely he was referring to the uninformative nature of the video title, not the content itself.

@@WolvenSpectre it happens all the time with me, especially with old people that have used computers for a very long time and are very cringey about learning anything new.

It's the title that is uninformative, not the video. And I'm well aware of the business reasons, but that doesn't mean that I'm not allowed to voice my disapproval of the practice.

Not even close to click bait....

because hidden looks "cleaner"

Because when noobs try to rename a file they might accidentally rename over the file extension part so program1.exe becomes myprogram (no exe).

cause you might end up rewriting a filename along with its extension, this is especially hard for people with less computer knowledge which is very common. Grandma: "My Word document keeps becoming this empty sheet of paper that doesn't open after I rename it"

Are you really that dumb? Think of the typical Windows user. Not everyone is technical to understand changing the extension

"Noobs" probably should not be renaming files in the first place. No excuses, file extensions should be visible by default, but aren't.

Some idiot at MS wanted to make the OS more mac like. Why? I don't know, Macs have a terrible OS. All of the worst features in windows come from trying to copy something done on the mac.

Thanks for reminding me. There is a big party and giveaway at the "dispensary" at the reservation tomorrow.

Especially executables. Although, common files like photos and music, which are kind of universal in all OS's, do have extensions even on Linux

All the better to not confuse grandma, I guess...

That option has been there since at LEAST NT 5.0 (aka: Win 2000), if not somewhere around NT 3.5 (Win 95) or NT 4.0 (Win 98).

@@ElNeroDiablo I definitely remember using it in both NT 4 and Win2k.

cause when you rename it, you dont understand why the dot jpeg is there and you erase the extention and have an unopenable file after. its an anti moron option. Its like Apple IOS: an OS based for computer illiterates.

@@bober1019 Love the apple user summary👏👏👏

There's no such thing as Magic.

@@MAGAMAN Yes there is in the computer world, for example linux, even in windows .class/.jar files(from java)

@@aeghohloechu5022 nah, they are file format specific, so they exist -- Windows/explorer just ignore them

@@aeghohloechu5022 No, it's not. Many programs just outright ignore the file endings and go by the magic bytes when reading them. I'd even go so far to say that a program is badly coded if it goes by the file ending to figure out what file type it's dealing with.

@@richardlighthouse5328 CAFEBABE?

And .m .c .d, .nanorc .script over 4

.Xauthority and .ucioljfhnztfhiugfrbvjzggjuzvhu are file extensions too

.c .mcmeta Lol

idk

Just use Linux.

And BSODes from nothing in the middle of exam. 😍

@@matyasletacek4099 BSODs are 99% of the time a issue caused by you from downloading a bad driver or software or having faulty hardware

@@Emil215p or Windows downloading a faulty driver, or the latest Windows Update...

or download w10privacy which changes update installing behavior

It's turned off by default so normies can't inadvertently delete the file extension when attempting to rename a file

@@Biker_Gremling Windows automatically highlights the filename not the dot extension, I don't think I have ever come across a customer that has ever removed the file extension, if they have someone has probably already told them that we need to keep the file extension on (I been doing this for over 20 years setting file extension to on as I find it's a stupid default to have it off ever)

meow meow hello fellow cartoon girl

Should have known someone would beat me to pointing this out. Was it in 8/8.1? I jumped straight from 7 to 10 and was thinking it wasn't there at first in 10...

@@SolarShado its fine lol, Windows 8 was a shame anyway, so you're forgiven And yes it was there already since 8

Gotcha

*laughs in .c and .h*

*Laughs in .flatpakref*

4:19 for me

Sir how much you were paid for saying that you are from Australia?

The video length is 4 minutes, 19 seconds. Today is 4/19.

Lit Fam 🍁🔥

4:20 in Germany too

Mac OS 9 had file/creator codes. PC Exchange would assign them based off of a registry of file extensions if they were downloaded from the internet/came from a non-Mac source. Most likely, they weren't set correctly on your file for whatever reason.

As does Mac OS. In fact this used to be one of the many compatibility issues between Windows and Mac OS back in the 90's as macs didn't bother adding file extensions to files when it created them, and windows programs didn't always bother to set the right file type identifier code in the file header when it saved new files.

The header is in fact an internal extention

And Amiga OS

@@NaNekoRx10 Yeah, kind of. The difference is that the header is part of the files content (data) and the extension is just metadata

I don’t think it’s Linux who does that. It’s probably the Window manager which decides which program to start after clicking an mp3 or jpg.

I mean if I make a VBS file to delete everything, does that make it perfectly safe?

I use vbs files for many purposes being a software developer. Straight from the harddisk Windows doesn’t ask any security questions. If you download them, Windows gives a “are you sure” question just like any other file you download. That is not vbs specific.

I had that problem too back when I was into VBS in like 2014, back when all I knew about VBS was the Scripts I found on the internet. I mean, seriously? A VBS File that just randomly opens and closes the disc drive is a threat??? Oh no! It’s not like the optical drive is a crucial part of Windows anyway. 🙃 These days, I’m into programming on the Mac. But yeah, fun times with VBS & Batch Files.

@My Name *facepalm*

@My Name I hope this is a troll. 🤣

@@adamkee97 😂😂

Or just watch it at an appropriate time of day? :P

@@Sparrowash97 Me and the channel is about 12 hours a day... So, as a fan that needs to watch it ASAP, I'll have to watch it at night... 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Lol

And my app.xcodeproj file doesn’t have extension too

Nooo I thought he was going to talk about phone extensions and extension cords, that really needed explaining. derp

@@leonidas14775 WOW

The executable bit only tells if a file is executable or not. That is something totally different from Windows file extensions. On the Linux console you cannot do ./image.jpg or ./music.mp3

@@Engineer9736 , you could just change the behavior of trying to execute non-executable files and feed them into something like xdg-open. It's Linux and "You cannot do X!" isn't really a thing over here. ^^

If that was the only problem with that video...

Or learn about "magic" like it's used on every unix-like system...

MIME? Pfft, use Uniform Type Identifiers. They're much more flexible.

@@MaddTheSane MIME is cross-platform and cross-application.

Kdenlive fellow user here

In absolute silence, The Sound of Silence plays.

Like, I couldn’t even stinkin’ see enough of the title to know what it was gonna be before opening the video. And the thumbnail isn’t really helping me figure it out either.

Magnificent.

#! is used for executable files that are not binaries, like scripts. This doesn't apply to non executables like images and text files.

Darn batches.

fileinfo.com/browse/ all file extensions that you will need to know

There are many more extensions that just have the same “beware” aspects. vbs, ps1, ..

No beware of .xex I got a virus and it shut down my pc

jkj jkjkjkjjkjk

Yeah

file extensions are shown by default and the type isn't determined by the extension but the content (in most cases)

Initial D?

@@reflex3843 im a fan of initial d, y

@@zachwaksmonski So am I. Nice to meet someone like me.

I know right, it's such an important birthday!

@@user-jy6ur8gb1c 😂 probably you do worse things like eat junk food, be fat, never excersise, use a lot of sugar or salt, drink beer, etc. things that will kill you. I wont die from smoking weed 🤷🏻, even better it can cure me some type or cancer. I recommend you to stop being such closed minded and read and research before posting such dumb things, even worse if you dont know me at all

Cheb did he say that???

This video wasn't meant for you then, same with me, my setup is just a Nintendo ds

right? This post was made by the Amiga and Mac OS pre-10.0 gang

It's so that the 90% of computer users don't accidentally delete the extension while renaming the file and lose access.

@@chetanaik That is not an acceptable excuse. Not slamming you, but MS.

@@cee128d How is it Microsoft's fault that people are tech illiterate? As the most common OS, they need to support the lowest common denominator. People like you or me, i.e. tech savvy people would already know about this and have likely set up their PC just so.

@@chetanaik It has nothing to do with being tech illiterate. Security and Windows Experts have been saying since day one that having Extensions Hidden is one of the worst part of Windows and needs to be changed. I'm just agreeing with them. If a user screws up and deletes an extension because of that so be it. At least they have a better chance to avoid security issues that way. And the issue isn't to dumb down Windows to the lowest common denominator. The issue needs to be to raise the users technical knowledge. You don't see Linux, BSD, Unix, or any other operating system hiding them and they don't have problems because of it.

@@cee128d That's being blind to the realities of the world. Lots of people don't care about computers and are satisfied with the knowledge of how to open a browser and google something. Public wifi hotspots are like ridiculously unsecure and are on the top of the "don'ts list" for any security consultant worth their salt. Doesn't mean it's going to go away. Linux and unix rightfully have a reputation of not being very user friendly; it's not an issue as it's user base is on average are power users and computer literate. Making this option on by default would save the small fraction who actually care about this 5 seconds, whole ruining the user experience for the rest of the user base.

MrZombie A and C are for files related to the C language, as are .h files. no idea what .z is, but it’s probably from the early days of computing and *nix.

Windows doesn't use single letter extensions for anything tho, and on UNIX based systems it's just to show its purpose, tho the binary can run without it

Blazy The length of the extension doesn’t matter. Windows still recognises .c files as C source files.

Blazy The file extenson on linux is to show what type of document/text it is, but binary file extensions don’t need extensions because they have the executable bits and markers at the beginning to tell what to execute them with.

QuiteOpinionated you kind of just described this channel

@@Scalloops I think there's a difference though, between knowing what a file extension is and the other videos on this channel, like explaining USB's different naming conventions, explaining WPA3 and talking about the differences between NVME and SATA. Like, I get that this channel is for more casual tech enthusiasts, but I can't imagine someone who's subscribed to this channel not knowing was a file extension is.

Not everybody knows about "show extensions for known types". And of course, it's useful for education, and teaching people who are new at computers about this.

dude weed lmao

You can just search . to find out.