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: Windows XP : XP Requirement 1
This is required to follow many of my tutorials.
Note: If you are looking
for the requirements to run Windows XP it probably means you are considering
an upgrade to XP. I don't recommend doing that on a machine with
Windows 98. Just buy a new computer with XP already on it.
You will be much better off. Dell
has computers for $300 dollars and up. How much is that XP upgrade?
Here is the link to Microsoft's page on Windows
XP Home Edition requirements.
Begin Tutorial:
Enable 'Show hidden
files and folders' - This isn't required but helpful. Things
like the Temporary Internet Files folder & the folder where your email
files reside are hidden by default. If you want to backup those
items automatically though a backup program, you need to unhide them.
Disable 'Hide extensions
for known file types' - Microsoft hides a files extension by
default. Just to keep us dumb. Extensions are the 3 letters
that follow most files. Things like .XLS and .MP3, this suffix allow
Windows to know which program to open the file with. This is a way for
you to identify certain files too. Some files have generic extensions
or no extension at all. These files aren't really meant to be opened
directly by humans. You can always open unknown files in Notepad
to try and get an idea of what the file contains. If Notepad shows
only garbage then the file probably needs another program to access it.
Sometime files with no extension are actually meant to be read through
Notepad. (Files like READ.ME, FILE_ID.DIZ & README.TXT are often
used to describe the contents of .ZIP files.)
Longer Explanation Of Why To
Show Fle Extensions:
If a file type gets associated
to the wrong program you may never know through Windows Explorer what
type of file it really is with seeing the extension. A good example
are sound files. .MP3 files are far different than .WAV files but
both play music through Microsoft Media Player. How are you to tell
which is which if you can't see the extension? The picture on the
icon will be the same for both types of files. An extension identifies
what a file really is. If you change a files extension, Windows
will warn you that it might make the file unstable. It would also
be unstable though if every time I tried to play a certain type of music
file it opened in Notepad. Without file extensions showing it would
be hard to tell anymore which of my files were music and which were documents
if somehow Windows changed the association of .MP3 files to open in Notepad
instead of Media Player.
Do This To View
Hidden Files & File Extensions In Windows XP:
- Open My Computer either from the Start Menu
or the Desktop.
- Left click on Folder Options.
- Left click on the View tab.
- Left click the circle next to Show hidden files and folders.
- Uncheck Hide extensions for known file types.
- Left click OK to exit this screen or Apply
to make the changes without exiting this screen.
