Vista Explorer "features"

Anyone has the solution to the following two Vista "features" that
really, really annoy me:
- When I press F2, it highlights only the main part of the file name,
excluding the extension. E.g.:

>>file<<.ext

instead of

>>file.ext<<

Can this be fixed so it highlights everything, as in XP? I change the
file name extension a lot (e.g. I create a text document and then
rename it to .bat to make a batch file or similar)

- When I rename a file from e.g. 1.txt to 1.dumb, it will complain
like this:
If you change a file name extension, the file may become unusable.

Are you sure you want to change it?

Any way to disable this behavior? I.e. change it always, I'll change
it back if I think it's bad...

wx <> wrote in news:43bbff9d-9590-4b10-a03b-
:

> Anyone has the solution to the following two Vista "features" that
> really, really annoy me:
> - When I press F2, it highlights only the main part of the file name,
> excluding the extension. E.g.:
>
>>>file<<.ext
>
> instead of
>
>>>file.ext<<
>
> Can this be fixed so it highlights everything, as in XP? I change the
> file name extension a lot (e.g. I create a text document and then
> rename it to .bat to make a batch file or similar)
>
> - When I rename a file from e.g. 1.txt to 1.dumb, it will complain
> like this:
> If you change a file name extension, the file may become unusable.
>
> Are you sure you want to change it?
>
> Any way to disable this behavior? I.e. change it always, I'll change
> it back if I think it's bad...
>

Can I ask why you just don't use the SAVE AS feature and create your
example.bat file right from within your txt editor?

wx <> wrote:
>
> Anyone has the solution to the following two Vista "features" that
> really, really annoy me:
> - When I press F2, it highlights only the main part of the file name,
> excluding the extension. E.g.:
>
>>> file<<.ext
>
> instead of
>
>>> file.ext<<
>
> Can this be fixed so it highlights everything, as in XP? I change the
> file name extension a lot (e.g. I create a text document and then
> rename it to .bat to make a batch file or similar)
>
> - When I rename a file from e.g. 1.txt to 1.dumb, it will complain
> like this:
> If you change a file name extension, the file may become unusable.
>
> Are you sure you want to change it?
>
> Any way to disable this behavior? I.e. change it always, I'll change
> it back if I think it's bad...

IIRC, when you click once on a filename, you do get the ability to change
the file extension, in Vista.

Anyway, if you save a file with file extension within quotes, it will save
it as the file type you want. I find that the easiest option, as an
alternative to going to the command line.

eg. Open Notepad, make batch file, > Save As

file name "test.bat" (including quotation marks)

the file will be saved as a batch file.

ss.

> Can I ask why you just don't use the SAVE AS feature and create your
example.bat file right from within your txt editor?
<
Explorer, empty space, right-click, New > Text Document, New Text
Document.txt, rename to 1.bat, NOT "1".bat.

"wx" <> wrote in message
news:9c95201f-17d8-44d7-b41e-...
>> Can I ask why you just don't use the SAVE AS feature and create your
> example.bat file right from within your txt editor?
> <
> Explorer, empty space, right-click, New > Text Document, New Text
> Document.txt, rename to 1.bat, NOT "1".bat.
>


"Save As" in Notepad names the file 1.bat NOT "1".bat......

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and the FULL contents of any error message(s)

Guys, am I speaking Martian language or what? I am NOT saving from
within Notepad or any other application. I am creating a new file from
within Explorer, by right clicking on an empty space, choosing New >
Text Document (or any other file type, for that matter - you can try
e.g. Compressed (zipped) Folder). Doing all kinds of renames,
including this one, doesn't select the extension. It's a simple
question - is there a way to select the extension on all rename
operations in Explorer (and, no, not Notepad/Save As...)? To state
this again - if you can go to any file in Explorer, press F2 and have
the whole thing (file name + extension) selected, then that's the
thing I need.

"wx" <> wrote in message
news:c7ef6dad-7338-424e-bbe9-...
> Guys, am I speaking Martian language or what? I am NOT saving from
> within Notepad or any other application. I am creating a new file from
> within Explorer, by right clicking on an empty space, choosing New >
> Text Document (or any other file type, for that matter - you can try
> e.g. Compressed (zipped) Folder). Doing all kinds of renames,
> including this one, doesn't select the extension. It's a simple
> question - is there a way to select the extension on all rename
> operations in Explorer (and, no, not Notepad/Save As...)? To state
> this again - if you can go to any file in Explorer, press F2 and have
> the whole thing (file name + extension) selected, then that's the
> thing I need.


Sounds like you need to uncheck the "Hide Extensions for known File Types"
option in Windows Explorer.
Do Organize-Folder and Search Options-View

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Asking a question?
Please tell us the version of the application you are asking about,
your OS, Service Pack level
and the FULL contents of any error message(s)

> Sounds like you need to uncheck the "Hide Extensions for known File Types"
> option in Windows Explorer.
> Do Organize-Folder and Search Options-View
Can you please try this for me:
- Uncheck the above option
- Make some file, from Notepad and name it "test.txt" (test being the
filename and txt being the extension)
- Open Explorer, select the file (you see "test.txt", not only "test"
in Explorer, correct?) and press F2
What gets selected? Does "test.txt" get selected or only
"test" (while .txt is NOT selected)? On my machine and other machines
running Vista I have seen, only "test" gets selected. Is there an
option that will allow me to select the whole thing right away?

wx wrote:

> Can you please try this for me:
> - Uncheck the above option
> - Make some file, from Notepad and name it "test.txt" (test being the
> filename and txt being the extension)
> - Open Explorer, select the file (you see "test.txt", not only "test"
> in Explorer, correct?) and press F2
> What gets selected? Does "test.txt" get selected or only
> "test" (while .txt is NOT selected)? On my machine and other machines
> running Vista I have seen, only "test" gets selected. Is there an
> option that will allow me to select the whole thing right away?

No, this is by design. So many people complained about the way XP did it -
getting the "are you sure you want to change the extension" dialog when
they didn't want to change the extension, just the file name - that MS
decided to change the renaming selection in Vista. This is actually in line
with other operating system. OS X, for instance, does it this way. So when
you want to change a file name, only the name will be selected and not the
entire thing including the extension.

I'm sorry that you don't like this, but apparently the vast majority of
users wanted the renaming selection to work this way and that's why MS
designed Vista to do this.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

I'm sorry too, Malke Anyway, thanks for the confirmation. I was
just hoping at least there is some registry setting or whatever I can
apply to return to XP. I, too, was bored with the XP "warning" dialog,
but now we have two of them - you first need to select everything and
then you still get the same dialog. (that is, in cases I change the
extension)

Thanks again and have a good 2009.! And, yes, please let me know
(though this will never happen) if somebody changes c:\windows
\system32\explorer-rename.dll to something more customizable...