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Windows File Extensions
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By default, Microsoft has configured Windows to hide most file extensions. While we're sure they have their reasons, hiding file extensions causes serious technical support problems for companies like Forevergreen. Microsoft hides the extensions on the assumption that they confuse novice users. We feel that hiding the extensions cripples your understanding of the Windows file system and ultimately will cause more trouble than it saves.
What are we talking about?
Below is an example of Windows Explorer listing the contents of the C:\TroopMgr directory. Note the 704 Kb file named Troop. This is your very, very important troop database file, the one you should backup on a regular basis. The true name of the file is Troop.mdb, but the .mdb file extension has been hidden.
Below is the exact same listing, this time with file extensions visible in all their wondrous utility. Now you can clearly see that the file name is actually Troop.mdb.
So, what's the big deal?
Just by looking at the above two screen shots, you can imagine the trouble we here at Forevergreen can have when trying to describe what to do when backing up, recovering and otherwise working with files. The names are different depending on how Windows is configured. It can get way worse than the above. Check out the following screen shots (this is a contrived example, your TroopMgr directory won't have these files).
The screen shot on the left has no file extensions, the one on the right does. There are no less than eight files all named Troop. Only one of them is your critically important Troop.mdb file. With file extensions turned off, it's difficult to tell the files apart.
But wait! There's more! Occasionally you might need to create a file with a specific extension. However, with the true extensions hidden you can get yourself into all sorts of trouble. For example, for technical support reasons we might need you to create a file with a .TM or .BM extension. Below is an example of a file that appears to be called Sample.tm, but when you see the real file extension you're surprised to see that it's actually Sample.tm.txt!
The clue is the icon, as well as the type description of the file (if you can see the column containing type descriptions, and more often than not you cannot see the descriptions).
This happens all the time, unfortunately. And it's not just Forevergreen Software Company products. All companies that rely on file names can suffer from this problem.
OK, so what can you do?
A very simple configuration change will cause Windows to display file extensions for all files. If you don't like the change you can always change it back. We feel that you'll be a better and more capable Windows user if you work with the true names of files and not the simplified names. Making the configuration change is slightly different in Windows 95 versus Windows 98 .
Windows 95
Start Windows Explorer. Select View-Options from the menu. You'll see a screen like the following. Clear the checkbox next to "Hide MS-DOS file extensions...", as shown below. Click OK and you're done.
You might want to try Windows Explorer with the other configurations shown above. As configured above, Windows Explorer will not hide any information from you. Everything you need to be a fully-informed user will be displayed.
Windows 98
In Windows 98 the equivalent dialog window is found under the View-Folder Options menu choice. On the View tab, the check box for "Hide..." can be found, as illustrated below.
