File Extension Visibility…

by Benjamin (Ben) Caruana

 

 

Q: Why is it very important to see what kind of file it is?

A: So you can ensure that what you are assuming is real.

So how can we determine that what we are assuming is real?

Most of us are creatures of habit, and we tend to assume things based on our experience, for example – if we saw this file on our computer, we would automatically assume that as the extension is .jpg then the file is a picture file.

However, this could be a ruse to make you open an executable file (file extension .exe) that will install an executable program (which may be malicious) onto your computer without you noticing it and this type of file would be detected beforehand if you ensure that you are really looking at the file extension.

The only way that we can ensure that what we are seeing is real is to deactivate the following option.

As the Windows Explorer Menu Bar is defaulted to be hidden, you may have to perform the following to view the Menu Bar.

Step: 1 Open the Windows Explorer by clicking the icon on the Task Bar.

Step: 2 Click on the ALT key on your keyboard

You should now be able to see the Menu Bar as shown below:

To deactivate the option, click on and then select the option.

You will then be prompted with the following window:

Select the tab and you will then be prompted with a window similar to the following:

Deactivate by clicking the swish with the LEFT mouse button, and the result should be as follows:

Click and then to complete the exercise