Display your file extensions Intended For Windows Vista Windows XP Windows 2003 Windows 2000 Windows Me Windows 98 Windows 95 By default, Windows is configured to hide filename extensions, the (usually three-leter) portion of the filename following the period. Aside from creating a knowledge gap between experienced and inexperienced users, this "feature" also can make it difficult to differentiate files with the same filename prefix. Overall, hiding filename extensions makes Windows more difficult to use. Open My Computer, and select Folder Options from the Tools menu (or choose Options from the View menu in Windows 95). Click on the View tab, turn off Hide MS-DOS file extensions for known file types, and press OK. Written by: Annoyances.org Last updated: Wednesday, February 7, 2007 Care to discuss this article with other Windows users? Select your operating system here, and click Continue to post your question. - Choose your OS -Windows 7Windows VistaWindows Server 2003Windows XPWindows 2000Windows MeWindows 98Windows 95 Previous discussions about this article: (open a message to see applicable responses, if any) [Windows XP] Comment about 'Display your file extensions' (DW: Saturday, January 5, 2002) [Windows XP] 'Display file extensions' for all XP-home-edition Users (Ondrej Bojar: Monday, November 11, 2002) [Windows XP] 'Display your file extensions' for all users? (Duncan Murdoch: Wednesday, August 18, 2004) [Windows XP] Question about 'Display your file extensions' (Steve Robbins: Tuesday, August 22, 2006) Return to "Using Windows"