why does it say with whatever filename i want to change, that it will become unusable?

Question

sometimes i want to rename a file or something
and then it says if i renew it, it will become unusable

Answer 1

Because you have the option to view file extensions turned on, so when you're renaming the file without adding the file extension (i.e. ".doc" for a word document) to the end of the new file name, the computer no longer recognizes it as that type of file.

To get rid of this problem, open "My Computer", click "Tools", click "Folder Options", click the "View" tab, and check the "Hide extensions for known file types" option.

Answer 2

Every file has an extension (well, most files, not all, but that's another story). "Extension" is the part after the dot. If the file name is "list.txt", then "txt" is the extension.

Windows, in a list it internally maintains, associates extensions with programs. For example, "txt" is asscoiated with "notepad.exe". That is why if you double click a TXT file, notepad runs. Of course, it is possible to change this association. But you got to know what you are doing. For example, if you change the association of TXT from notepad to YahooMessenger.exe, what will happen? Next time you double click a TXT file, good luck! You just rendered your TXT file "unusable".

Well, in that example, you kept the extension same but changed the executable. If you do the opposite, the result will be the same if you don't know what you are doing. For example, rename a ZIP file - change the ZIP to TXT. What will happen when you double click the renamed file? Notepad will try to open a file whose internal binary structure can only be understood by winzip or winrar or similar programs. Notepad will fail! So, you have rendered a file unusable.

Bottomline - when you rename a file's extension, Windows is scared that something like this might happen. So it shows you the warning. But that does not mean that you are wrong. If you change the extension of a DOC to RTF, it will still work. Depends on whether you know what you are doing.

Answer 3

A file name consists of two parts (normally). There is the name and the 3 letter extension after the period - .doc, .xls., .ppt, .odt, .ods, .pdf, etc. The 3 letter extension lets Windows or Linux or Mac determine which program to start if you click on the file. If you change the extension, that file will no longer be CORRECTLY identified by your OS, and it probably will not open in the correct application if you try to click on it to edit / print it.

Thus, the file will be unusable if you change the extension. Actually it is still usable, just more of a hassle.

If you only rename the main part of the name, and DO NOT change the 3 letter extension, you should not get a message.

Answer 4

Your computer is set to view file extensions. When you delete a file extension, the system does not know what to do with the file anymore. A file extension is the characters that come after the dot in a file name. pic1.jpg is a JPEG picture names pic1. To make this stop, open up my documents. Click Tools > Folder Options. In the list of options, check the box that says "Hide extensions of known file types."

Answer 5

Open up My computer.
Click tools.
click folder options
click view
look for "hide extensions for know filenames" make sure its checked.

If you want the file extensions show just add the extension to the end of the name when you rename it

Answer 6

Make sure you only try to rename the bit before the "." not the 3 letter extension

If you rename a .DOC file with no extension or with a diff extension windows will not know how to open it

Answer 7

because you are either changing or leaving out the .jpg or .doc or whatever type of file it is. hope this helps =)