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:
- Right click on Window's Start button.
- Select Explore.
- 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.
- Go to the View menu.
- 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.
- Go to the Tools menu.
- Select Folder Options
- In the General tab, select Use Windows Classic Folders.
- Select the View tab.
- Click on Apply to All Folders.
- The Folders View dialog box opens.
- Click Yes.
- Go to the Advanced Settings section at the bottom of the View tab.
- 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!
- Click Apply.
- Click OK.
- Quit out of Windows Explorer: from the File menu select Close.
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Congratulations! This is what you have accomplished:
You will now be able to see file extensions:
- File extensions are the end part of file names, the part that comes after a dot and is usually 3 or 4 characters in length.
- Examples are: .html, .doc, .jpeg.
- By default, file extensions are not visible on Windows.
- However, when you can see a file's extension, it enables you to identify the file by its file type without needing to open that file.
- You will be able to determine if a file is a web page (.html/.htm), image file (.gif or .jpg/.jpeg), and so forth, without needing to open the file.
- You will now see file extensions in your file browsers. File browsers are the dialog boxes that appear when, for example, you select File -> Open.
- Note: that renaming a file and including a file extension that is not correct for the type of data in the file will not succeed in changing the inherent properties of the file. Such a renamed file will not work properly.
Setting to Windows Classic Folders:
- This removes the sometimes visible middle section of the Windows Explorer interface that displays decorative images that serve little purpose.