Porkchop Technology Review's

Hidden files is a security problem in Windows dating back to Windows 95 and even more recently being also included in Windows 7, even though it is a big security flaw.  I remember back then using a program called Sub 7, a hacking program which was fairly easy to use at the time, and a lot of people back then didn’t have firewalls or virus protection as we do today.  I’m talking about Windows 95 days, where we didn’t have free virus scanners as AVG and firewalls built into Windows as we do now, which pretty much eliminates the threat of the program Sub 7, but still is a good example to use why hidden files should be turned off.

What are hidden extension files?  All files have extensions that tells the computer how to open a file and which program to use, Windows on default hides them, for example “FireFox” will show up with hidden file extensions on (default setting in Windows) with hidden file extensions off it will show “FireFox.exe”  You will see the .exe part in the end of the file.  When hidden extension files are turned off in Windows  you will see all file extensions.  Windows has hidden file extensions on because it makes everything neater and more easier for the user to just read the name FireFox instead of FireFox.exe and other various reasons which I don’t know.  The problem with hidden file extensions is that files can be manipulated to show something completely different.  For example a text document can be hidden as an .exe program executable and  you open it up thinking it is a .txt file because the icon looks like a text document.  Fortunately turning hidden file extensions is easy and recommended.

This is from a long time ago, but I tried this hacker program called sub 7 one time, this was during the Windows 95 era.  Sub 7 was a program that created Trojans, what would happen was I would sent the file to someone as something else and they would click it and open it and it would run a DOS prompt and execute code and I could access their computer and control everything in it, like it was my own.  It would even email me when that computer was connected to the Internet with the IP address.  The files being sent to people were renamed and hidden, I could make a .exe program look like a .zip file or a picture, but the extension was still an .exe if the person had hidden file extensions off they could see that the picture had .exe in the end and see that it defiantly wasn’t a picture but a program.  It’s unfortunate to see that Windows 7 is going to have hidden file extensions on default, I recently came across this article from F-Secure http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00001675.html

So now you know why hidden file extensions can be a security issue, so now lets turn that setting off in Windows!

Windows Vista
Click Start, click control panel, click appearance and personalization, click folder options, click view tab, then under advanced settings uncheck hide extensions for known file types.

Windows XP
Double click on My Computer on desktop, select tools from top menu, select folder options, click on view tab, scroll down until you see hide extensions for known file types, uncheck box, OK.

Its that easy to turn off and you will be much safer, you will see all file extensions and know exactly what you  are opening up.

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