Setting your view of files for Windows

You will now set Windows to provide optimal information about files as will be explained further down on the page. First, please do the following:

  1. Right click on Window's Start button.
  2. Select Explore.
  3. Windows Explorer will open.
    • Do not confuse it with Internet Explorer, which is what you are probably much more familiar with.
    • Internet Explorer is used to view html files and the files that they request.
    • Windows Explorer is used to manage files on your computer.
  4. Go to the View menu.
  5. Select Details.
    • Details view allows you to see the size of your files in megabytes (MB) or kilobytes (KB).
    • It is important to know the size of your files because large file sizes are the main reason for slow Web page download times.
    • Details view also allows you to see the time that a file was created or last modified.
  6. Go to the Tools menu.
  7. Select Folder Options
  8. In the General tab, select Use Windows Classic Folders.
  9. Select the View tab.
  10. Click on Apply to All Folders.
  11. The Folders View dialog box opens.
  12. Click Yes.
  13. Go to the Advanced Settings section at the bottom of the View tab.
  14. Disable (uncheck) Hide File Extensions for Known File Types.
    • It is a silly option because it suggests that there are some file extensions that no one knows about!
  15. Click Apply.
  16. Click OK.
  17. Quit out of Windows Explorer: from the File menu select Close.

Before  



After  

dislay file extensions settings

Congratulations! This is what you have accomplished:

You will now be able to see file extensions:

Setting to Windows Classic Folders: