Computer trivia

Many people have the habit of making the file extensions invisible. Unfortunately, Windows by default, does not display the extensions of files. This was done to prevent users from accidentally changing the file extensions which might make the file unusable.

However, not being able to see the file extensions is a major security threat. See what could happen.

A virus with the name “virus.hqx” can be renamed as “virus.txt.hqx” by the attacker.

So on your computer you can only see “virus.txt” as the last three letters will not be shown when displaying extensions is disabled.

So, an unsuspecting user, who sees the .txt extension might believe this to be a legitimate file and open it.

A good practice is to have the file extensions displayed always. To do this you can go to Tools->Folder Options->View->Show File extensions for known file types.

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