What You Should Know about Windows File Extensions and Issues Related to Them

While some parts of a Windows system are well understood, others are not. For instance, there is a lot of awareness about the various types of viruses and the ways to prevent infection, but not much is known about the different types of files on a computer and errors related to them. Therefore, this article will provide a short introduction to the various types of Windows file extensions, as well as the errors that can be encountered.

What is a file extension?

A file extension is the three-letter part of a filename. It is usually preceded by a dot, and is used by the operating system for a variety of purposes. For instance, text files are named in the following manner, ‘mycontacts.txt’, in which case the ‘.txt’ part of the filename is the file extension, which says that this file will comprise plain text and can be worked on by a text editor like Notepad.

Can you provide some more interesting examples of file extensions?

Sure, and there are many types of file extensions, perhaps even innumerable. Most likely you are familiar with MS-Word files or PDF files because there is a good chance that you work with these files on a daily basis.  However, there are a large number of file types that you may not be familiar with.  We will now discuss some of the lesser known file extensions:

• .bup file extension – This file extension is related to DVDs. A .bup file is generated by a DVD player, and it is the backup file for another type of file created by the DVD player, called the IFO file.
• .mui file extension – This file is used by the Windows to define the language settings for the interface. The acronym stands for MultiLanguage User Interface, and provides the ability to customise the language according to the user.
• .dat file extension – This extension serves two purposes: sometimes it works as a binary file for storing data in the most basic format, and is also the format for some videos on the Windows platform.

What causes file extension errors?

There can be many reasons, some of which are listed below:

• The registry might be corrupt.
• The filesystem may be corrupt.
• There might be malware infection.
• The platform might be wrong for the file.
• The required application might be missing.

What do I do to avoid such errors in the future?

There are many things you can do, and we describe them below:

• Registry cleanup – The registry stores a lot of information on file types, and so it is important to ensure that it is not suffering from any problems. Therefore, you should purchase a good registry cleaner and scan your registry periodically to avoid file type errors.
• Malware scan – Many times, malware are responsible for various types of errors. Therefore, you should have all the required protective software installed on your system and update it regularly by connecting it to the internet.