What is an application?

You may have heard people talking about using a program, an

application, or an app. But what exactly does that mean? Simply put,
an app is a type of software that allows you to perform specific tasks.
Applications for desktop or laptop computers are sometimes called
desktop applications, while those for mobile devices are called mobile
apps.

When you open an application, it runs inside the operating system until
you close it. Most of the time, you will have more than one application
open at the same time, which is known as multi-tasking.

Watch the video below to learn more about applications.

App is a common term for an application, especially for simple

applications that can be downloaded inexpensively or even for free.
Many apps are also available for mobile devices and even some TVs.

Desktop applications
There are countless desktop applications, and they fall into several
categories. Some are more full featured (like Microsoft Word), while
others may only do one or two things(like a clock or calendar app).
Below are just a few types of applications you might use.

● Word processors: A word processor allows you to

write a letter, design a flyer, and create many other
 types of documents. The most well-known word
processor is Microsoft Word.
●

● Web browsers: A web browser is the tool you use to

access the Internet. Most computers come with a web
browser pre-installed, but you can also download a
different one if you prefer. Examples of browsers
include Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google
Chrome, and Safari.
 ●

● Media players: If you want to listen to MP3s or watch

movies you've downloaded, you'll need to use a
media player. Windows Media Playerand iTunes are
popular media players.
 ●

● Games: There are many types of games you can play

on your computer. They range from card games like
Solitaire to action games like Halo. Many action
games require a lot of computing power, so they may
not work unless you have a newer computer.

Mobile apps
Desktop and laptop computers aren't the only devices that can run
applications. You can also download apps for mobile devices like
smartphones and tablets. Here are a few examples of mobile apps.

● Gmail: You can use the Gmail app to easily view and
send emails from your mobile device. It's available for
Android and iOS devices.
 ●
● Instagram: You can use Instagram to quickly share
photos with your friends and family. It's available for
Android and iOS.
● Duolingo: With a combination of quizzes, games, and
other activities, this app can help you learn new
languages. It's available for Android and iOS.

GCFLearnFree.org offers a variety of mobile apps. You can go to our

Mobile Apps page to download them for free.
What is an operating system?
An operating system is the most important software that runs on a
computer. It manages the computer's memory and processes, as well
as all of its software and hardware. It also allows you to communicate
with the computer without knowing how to speak the computer's
language. Without an operating system, a computer is useless.

Watch the video below to learn more about operating systems.

The operating system's job

Your computer's operating system (OS) manages all of the software
and hardware on the computer. Most of the time, there are several
different computer programs running at the same time, and they all need
to access your computer's central processing unit (CPU), memory,
and storage. The operating system coordinates all of this to make sure
each program gets what it needs.

Types of operating systems

Operating systems usually come pre-loaded on any computer you buy.
Most people use the operating system that comes with their computer,
but it's possible to upgrade or even change operating systems. The three
most common operating systems for personal computers are Microsoft
Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
Modern operating systems use a graphical user interface, or GUI
(pronounced gooey). A GUI lets you use your mouse to click icons,
buttons, and menus, and everything is clearly displayed on the screen
using a combination of graphics and text.

Each operating system's GUI has a different look and feel, so if you
switch to a different operating system it may seem unfamiliar at first.
However, modern operating systems are designed to be easy to use,
and most of the basic principles are the same.

Microsoft Windows
Microsoft created the Windows operating system in the mid-1980s.
Over the years, there have been many different versions of Windows,
but the most recent ones are Windows 10 (released in 2015), Windows
8 (2012), Windows 7 (2009), and Windows Vista (2007). Windows
comes pre-loaded on most new PCs, which helps to make it the most
popular operating system in the world.

Check out our tutorials on Windows Basics and specific Windows

versionsfor more information.

Mac OS X
Mac OS is a line of operating systems created by Apple. It comes
preloaded on all new Macintosh computers, or Macs. All of the recent
versions are known as OS X (pronounced O-S Ten), and the specific
versions include El Capitan (released in 2015), Yosemite (2014),
Mavericks (2013), Mountain Lion (2012), and Lion (2011).

According to StatCounter Global Stats, Mac OS X users account for

less than 10% of global operating systems—much lower than the
percentage of Windows users (more than 80%). One reason for this is
that Apple computers tend to be more expensive. However, many
people do prefer the look and feel of Mac OS X over Windows.

Check out our tutorials on OS X Basics and specific OS X versions for

more information.

Linux
Linux (pronounced LINN-ux) is a family of open-source operating
systems, which means they can be modified and distributed by anyone
around the world. This is different from proprietary software like
Windows, which can only be modified by the company that owns it. The
advantages of Linux are that it is free, and there are many different
distributions—or versions—you can choose from.

According to StatCounter Global Stats, Linux users account for less

than 2% of global operating systems. However, most servers run Linux
because it's relatively easy to customize.
To learn more about different distributions of Linux, visit the Ubuntu,
Linux Mint, and Fedora websites, or refer to our Linux Mint
Resources. For a more comprehensive list, you can visit MakeUseOf's
list of The Best Linux Distributions.

Operating systems for mobile

devices
The operating systems we've been talking about so far were designed to
run on desktopand laptop computers. Mobile devices such as
phones, tablet computers, and MP3 players are different from desktop
and laptop computers, so they run operating systems that are designed
specifically for mobile devices. Examples of mobile operating systems
include Apple iOS and Google Android. In the screenshot below, you
can see iOS running on an iPad.
Operating systems for mobile devices generally aren't as fully featured
as those made for desktop and laptop computers, and they aren't able to
run all of the same software. However, you can still do a lot of things with
them, like watch movies, browse the Web, manage your calendar, and
play games

A device driver is a small piece of software that tells the operating system and other
software how to communicate with a piece of hardware.
For example, printer drivers tell the operating system, and by extension whatever
program you have the thing you want to print open in, exactly how to print information
on the page
Sound card drivers are necessary so your operating system knows exactly how to
translate the 1's and 0's that comprise that MP3 file into audio signals that the sound
card can output to your headphones or speakers.
The same general idea applies to video cards, keyboards, monitors, mice, disc drives,
etc.
Keep reading for more on why drivers are important, including some more examples, as
well as information on how to keep your drivers updated and what to do if they're not
working properly.

How Exactly Do Device Drivers Work?

Think of device drivers like translators between a program you're using and a device
that that program wants to utilize somehow. The software and the hardware were
created by different people or companies and speak two completely different languages,
so a translator (the driver) allows them to communicate.

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In other words, a software program can provide information to a driver to explain what it
wants a piece of hardware to do, information the device driver understands and then
can fulfill with the hardware.
Thanks to device drivers, most software programs don't need to know how to work
directly with hardware, and a driver doesn't need to include a full application experience
for users to interact with. Instead, the program and driver simply need to know how to
interface with each other.
This is a pretty good deal for everyone involved, considering that there is a nearly
endless supply of software and hardware out there. If everyone had to know how to
communicate with everyone else, the process of making software and hardware would
be near impossible.

How to Manage Device Drivers

Most of the time, drivers install automatically and never need more attention, aside from
the occasional updating to fix bugs or add a cool new feature. This is true for some
drivers in Windows that are downloaded via Windows Update.
The drivers for each piece of hardware in your Windows computer are centrally
managed from Device Manager, available in all versions of Microsoft Windows.
Here are some common tasks in Windows involving drivers:
How to Update Drivers in Windows
 How to Find a Driver's Version Number in Windows
How to Roll Back a Driver in Windows
Here are a few additional resources related to drivers:
Free Driver Updater Software Tools
Windows 10 Drivers (Updated Listing)
Windows 8 Drivers (Updated Listing)
Windows 7 Drivers (Updated Listing)
How to Find and Download Drivers From Manufacturer Websites
Popular Driver Download Websites
How to Determine If You're Running a 32-bit or 64-bit Version of Windows
Many problems that can be isolated to a particular piece of hardware aren't problems
with the actual hardware itself, but issues with the device drivers that are installed for
that hardware. Some of the resources linked above should help you figure all that out.

More About Device Drivers

Beyond the basic software-driver-hardware relationship, there are some other situations
that involve drivers (and that don't) that are kind of interesting.
While this is less common these days, some software is able to communicate directly
with some types of hardware—no drivers necessary! This is usually only possible when
the software is sending very simple commands to the hardware, or when both were
developed by the same company, but this can also be thought of as a kind of built-in
driver situation.
Some device drivers communicate directly with a device, but others are layered
together. In these situations, a program will communicate with one driver before that
driver communicates with yet another one, and so on until the last driver actually
performs the direct communication with the hardware.
These "middle" drivers often don't perform any function at all other than verifying that
the other drivers are working properly. Regardless, whether there is one driver or
multiples working in a "stack," all of it is done in the background without you having to
know, or do, anything.
Windows uses .SYS files as loadable device drivers, meaning they can be loaded on an
as-needed basis so that they're not always taking up memory—other drivers are in the
DLL or EXE format. The same is true for Linux .KO modules.
WHQL is a testing process by Microsoft that helps prove that a particular device driver
will work with a specific version of Windows. You might see that a driver you're
downloading is or isn't WHQL certified. You can read more about Windows Hardware
Quality Labs here.
Another form of the driver is the virtual device driver. These drivers usually end in
the .VXD file extension and are used with virtualization software. They work similar to
regular drivers but in order to prevent the guest operating system from accessing
hardware directly, the virtual drivers masquerade as real hardware so that the guest OS
and its own drivers can access hardware much like non-virtual operating systems.
In other words, while a host operating system and its drivers interface with actual
hardware components, virtual guest operating systems and their drivers interface with
virtual hardware through virtual device drivers, which are then relayed to the real,
physical hardware by the host operating system.

You can't recover data that you haven't kept. But how confident are you that the data on which
your business depends is backed up successfully? This paper examines the kinds of data
storage technologies and solutions that are best for all businesses and offers some best
practices for ensuring the successful data backup and recovery required to sustain operations --
regardless of what happens to your business.

It's always a challenge to keep your business data readily available when you need it. And this
job gets even tougher the smaller your technical staff -- assuming that you have a staff at all.

Managing and Minimizing Storage Requirements

To meet your growing data storage demands without suffering through repeated upgrade
hassles, it's worthwhile to stop and carefully review your:

[ Further reading: How to remove malware from your Windows PC ]

● Current and anticipated storage requirements.
● Data protection and backup needs, since backing up multiple servers, volumes, and
desktop systems can quickly get very complex.

Cost-effective Data Storage Solutions

The cost of data storage has plummeted in recent years. Meanwhile, the labor costs associated
with managing data storage keep climbing. So consider buying more storage -- even more than
you think you'll need. It's worth it in the long run and the extra cost is negligible.

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To keep storage management costs in line, think hard about how you'll configure your data
storage. For instance:

● It's probably not worth upgrading the storage built into your existing servers since
the cost of backing up the data they contain, adding new hard drives, then restoring the
data will be substantial. Instead, make sure that the data storage you do buy is scalable,
so it's easy to add more later when you require it.
● Buy the kind of data storage devices best suited to the services they support. For
instance, IDE drives usually work just fine for file and basic application services, as do
 SATA controllers and drives. While IDE and SATA devices can't match the performance
of SCSI drives (which offers fast transfer rates and rotation speeds), they cost much less
than SCSI solutions. For applications requiring high-performance and reliable availability
of data, look to SCSI RAID solutions, which cost more but deliver fault tolerance with
redundant configurations (how much availability and fault-tolerance depends on what
sort of RAID level you select).
● If your data is stored on multiple servers, you can consolidate it onto fewer servers
with larger hard drives so management and backup is easier.
● If you need to add storage to your company network, consider NASdevices, which
are simpler than file servers since they use web-based administrator interfaces to mask
operational complexities. Pay close attention to NAS device details to ensure that your
chosen solution works with your existing systems and networks while remaining
scalable.
● If you need high-capacity, undisrupted data access, redundant system links to
ensure data integrity, an ability to reconfigure and/or scale your storage
infrastructure, and centralized storage management and backup capability,
consider a SAN. iSCSI-based SANs, which are based on IP-friendly Ethernet network
technology, are less expensive and complex than Fibre Channel SANs.

Tips for Taking the Backache Out of Backup

As your business increasingly relies on data, backing up that data becomes even more
important but also more complex. The effort can be grueling (and costly) if you do not have a
backup strategy that is based on proper planning and is faithfully executed according to a
carefully crafted backup policy. Here's how to begin:

● Decide what you need to back up. Start with your answer to "What can we afford to
lose?"
● Understand your data environment. Once you know what requires backing up, you'll
need to determine the systems and hosts where it's located; what type of data it is; how
often it needs to be backed up and how often it's likely to be retrieved/restored; how long
it must be retained and in what form; how much time you have to complete the backup;
and what kind of security the data requires. By ranking the importance of your data and
eliminating the unnecessary data from your backup efforts, you can save storage space.
● Find the backup techniques and technologies that best align with your business
needs and that automate as much of your backup efforts as possible. For instance,
it may be worthwhile to consolidate data on fewer servers to reduce backup
 management efforts. You may benefit from using backup/recovery solutions that are
bundled with a storage appliance. Or perhaps you should opt to outsource backups
entirely. Consult with an expert if you don't understand this process.
● Craft the processes and procedures you'll need to ensure backups are completed
properly, including assigning responsibility for getting backups accomplished and
monitoring the effort to spot problems, while also ensuring that those responsible are
sufficiently trained.
● Ensure that backup copies are valid and can be successfully restored, which
requires that you rank the importance of your data and establish ways that the most
important data is backed up first and restored first. Be sure that you have adequate time
to back up all the data that's important to your business, and be sure to understand the
time required to restore that data in case of loss or corruption. You'll also need to
regularly check and test your equipment, media, and processes.
● Ensure that backup copies are safe. Generally, this means storing your backups in a
logically and physically secured offsite location. It also means ensuring that you haven't
backed up viruses and other malware, spam, and data that is not important or that is
harmful to your business.
● Maintain backup logs so you -- and your auditors -- can track backup activities.
● Regularly revisit your backup/restore risks, procedures, and technologies to make
sure they are adequate as business needs and conditions evolve.
● Dispose of backup media carefully, making sure that they are physically destroyed so
that their contents cannot be read by the unauthorized.

Of course, the backup technologies you use depend greatly on the size and nature of your
business and how it uses information. Below are some newer technologies that may be able to
help ease your backup burdens.

Best Practices for Business Continuity Protection

The ability to sustain business operations
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in the face of disaster -- or merely a hardware or network failure or employee error -- requires
planning.
You can figure out if the effort is worthwhile by asking and answering one simple (yet scary)
question: "How long would my business survive without its computer systems, networks, and
applications; without its business data; without its phone system; and without its offices?"
If you conclude that it's wise to think through how your business should respond to events that
interrupt its operations, you can begin with the guidelines contained in the DRBC (disaster
recovery/business continuity) Framework, developed by Naresh Malhotra and Saby Mitra of the
DuPree College of Management at the Georgia Institute of Technology:

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● Charter a team. This involves getting commitment from the CEO of your company and
establishing a cross-functional steering committee and a core operational team.
● Conduct an analysis of your business. You'll need to identify the goals of your
business as well as its outputs, processes and resources, the risks it faces, the potential
impacts of those risks, and the roles of those (such as technology vendors) you'll turn to
for risk mitigation.
● Define a disaster recovery/business continuity strategy. This must be done at the
company-wide level as well as for your business processes and resources; then you'll
need to figure out how to pay for it.
● Develop a detailed plan. Define its scope, document requirements in detail, then
design it.
● Implement your plan. Steps include getting buy-in throughout your company,
developing implementation documentation, assigning roles and responsibilities, training
employees, and testing what you've implemented.
● Maintain your plan. You'll need a change management process as well as the ability to
monitor performance and benchmark new applications, products, and processes.

This effort may not have to be as complicated as it sounds. Businesses often can, for instance,
get help setting priorities at facilitated workshops that conduct risk assessment and business
impact analyses. If your business has multiple locations, one site can serve as backup for
another. In addition, you can upgrade your IT systems maintenance contracts to get
replacement hardware in 24 to 48 hours, which can be drop-shipped to a recovery location
where data and applications can be loaded from backup stores.

The key is planning, training, testing, and regular review of the plan. Do this and you'll have the
same chances of surviving any trouble that you might encounter regarding your business
operations.

For more information on CA's small and medium business solutions, please visit
ca.com/smb.

Copyright 2005 Computer Associates International, Inc. (CA). All trademarks, trade names,
service marks and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies. This
document is for your informational purposes only. To the extent permitted by applicable law, CA
provides this document "AS IS" without warranty of any kind, including, without limitation, any
implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. In no
event will CA be liable for any loss or damage, direct or indirect, from the use of this document,
including, without limitation, lost profits, business interruption, goodwill or lost data, even if CA is
expressly advised of such damages. Inc. and Inc. 500 are registered trademarks owned by
Gruner + Jahr Printing & Publishing Co.

MP282990605

This story was editorially selected as relevant and is used with permission from CA. PC World
received no compensation for posting this article.

This page provides an overview of the most widely available means of storing and backing-
up computer data, and in doing so provides a supplement to the hardware and security
pages. For more information on how best to back-up your precious data files, you may want
to watch the following video:

Computer storage is measured in bytes, kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), gigabytes (GB)
and increasingly terabytes (TB). One byte is one character of information, and is comprised
of eight bits (or eight digital 1's or 0's). Technically a kilobyte is 1024 bytes, a megabyte
1024 kilobytes, a gigabyte 1024 megabytes, and a terabyte 1024 gigabytes. This said,
whilst this remains true when it comes to a computer's internal RAM and solid state storage
devices (like USB memory sticks and flash memory cards), measures of hard disk capacity
often take 1MB to be 1,000,000 bytes (not 1,024,768 bytes) and so on. This means that the
storage capacity of two devices labelled as the same size can be different, and which
remains an ongoing source of debate within the computer industry.
Any sensible computer user will plan for two categories of storage. These will comprise the
storage necessary to keep files internally on their computer, as well as those media required
to back-up, transfer and archive data (as also explored in the security section). In turn, when
deciding on suitable external storage devices, the key questions to be asked should be how
much data actually needs to be stored, and whether the external data archive will be subject
to random-access or incremental change.
STORAGE CAPACITY AND REQUIREMENTS
If a computer user is usually only going to create word processor documents and
spreadsheets, then most of their files will probably be in the order of a few hundred KB or
maybe occasionally a few MB in size. If, however, a computer is being used to store and
manipulate digital photographs, then average file sizes will be in the region of several MB in
size (and potentially tens of MB if professional digital photography is being conducted). Yet
another level of storage higher, if a computer is being used to edit and store video,
individual file sizes will probably be measured in hundreds of MB or even a few GB. For
example, an hour of DV format video footage consumes about 12GB of storage. Non-
compressed video requires even more space -- for example 2GB for every minute of
standard definition footage, and 9.38GB for each minute of non-compressed 1920x1080
high definition video. Knowing what a computer is going to be used for (and of course many
computers are used for a variety of purposes) is hence very important when planning
storage requirements.
In addition to capacity requirements, whether the data in a user's back-up archive will have
to change in a random-access or incremental fashion can be a critical factor in the choice of
external storage devices. A digital photographer, for example, will probably have
incremental back-up requirements where each time they complete a shoot they will want to
take a back-up of several hundred MB or a few GB of photographs that will subsequently
never change. In other words they will want to keep a permanent record of an historical
digital state of the world. Writing data like photographs to write-once media (such as CD-R
or DVD-R as discussed below) would hence be perfectly acceptable. The photographer's
total archive may be hundreds of GB in size, but would only be added to incrementally with
previously stored data never being changed.
In contrast, somebody producing 3D computer animation may be re-rendering tens of GB of
output on a regular basis to replace previous files in a random-access fashion. In this
situation not only would re-writable media be more suitable, but the speed of the back-up
device would become far more critical. Having to take a copy of even 50GB of data at the
end of a working day is a very different proposition to a few GB, let alone a few tens or
hundreds of MB. Further discussion of the suitability of different media for incremental and
random-access back-up continues within the following explanation of available storage
devices and technologies.
HARD DISK STORAGE
Spinning hard disk (HD) drives are today the most common means of high capacity
computer storage, with most desktop and laptop computers still relying on a spinning hard
disk to store their operating system, applications programs and at least some user data.
Traditional, spinning hard disk drives consist of one or more disk "platters" stacked one
above the other, and coated in a magnetic media that is written to and read by the drive
heads. As discussed in the hardwaresection, hard disk drives can transfer data directly to
other computer hardware via a range of three interface types (SATA, IDE/UDMA, or SCSI)
and come in a range of speeds from 4200 to 15000 revolutions per minute (RPM).
Hard disks are almost always manufactured with either 3.5" of 2.5" platters (although just to
break the rule a few smaller -- most notably 1.8" -- and even some larger platter disks are
made by some manufacturers). For many years 3.5" hard disks have been standard for
desktop computers and servers, and 2.5" hard disks for laptops. Yet this is now starting to
change, with enterprise class 2.5" hard disks now increasingly being used in servers and
some desktop computers due to their low power requirements. Indeed, the fact that Western
Digital's top-of-the-range Velociraptorhard drives now use a 2.5" rather than a 3.5"
mechanism speaks volumes and probably indicates that within a few years most spinning
hard disk drives are likely to be 2.5". (Note that some raptor models are supplied in a metal
"sled" for fitting into a 3.5" bay)
Whilst at least one hard disk is usually required inside a computer as the "system disk",
additional hard disk drives can be located either "internally" inside the main computer case,
or connected "externally" as an independent hardware unit. A second internal hard disk is
highly recommended where a user regularly works on very large media files (typically digital
video files) that are always accessed directly off the hard disk, rather than loaded into RAM.
Where such files are loaded off a computer's system disk, the disk drive heads are inevitably
constantly nipping back and forth between accessing the large media file and writing
temporary operating system files, and this both degrades performance and reduces the life
of the disk.
RAID
On servers and high-end PC workstations (such as those used for high-end video editing), at
least two hard disks are often linked together using a technology called RAID. This stands for
"redundant array of independent disks" (or sometimes "redundant array of inexpensive
drives"), and stores the data in each user volume on multiple physical drives.
Many possible RAID configurations are available. The first is called "RAID 0". This divides or
"strips" the data in a storage volume across two or more disks, with half of each file written
to one disk, and half to another. This improves overall read/write performance without
sacrificing capacity. So, for example (as shown above), two 1TB drives may be linked to form
a 2TB array. Because this virtual volume is faster than either of its component disks, RAID 0
is common used on video editing workstations.
In contrast to RAID 0, "RAID 1" is primarily intended to protect data against hardware failure.
Here data is duplicated or "mirrored" across two or more disks. The data redundancy so
created means that if one physical drive fails there is still a complete copy of its contents on
another drive. However, this does mean that drive capacity is sacrificed. For example (as
shown above), a 1TB RAID 1 volume requires two 1TB disks. While data write performance is
not improved by using RAID 1, data read times are increased as multiple files can be
accessed simultaneously from different physical drives.

If more than two drives are used, several other configurations become possible. For
example, using three of more drives, "RAID 5" strikes a balance between speed and
redundancy by stripping data across two drives but also writing "parity" data to a third.
Parity data maintains a record of the differences between the blocks of data on the other
drives, in turn permitting file restoration in the event of a drive failure. (A great explanation
of parity and RAID 5 in detail can be found in this video. For mission-critical applications,
"RAID 10" strips and mirrors data across four or more drives to provide the gold standard in
performance and redundancy. You can find a more detailed explanation of RAID 0, 1, 5 and
10 on TheGeekStuff.com.
Many modern personal computer motherboards permit two SATA hard disk drives to set up
in a RAID configuration. However, for users who do not require the extra speed provided by
RAID 0, RAID 5 or RAID 10, there are relatively few benefits to be gained. Not least, it needs
to be remembered that any hardware setup featuring more than one internal hard disk --
whether or not in a RAID configuration -- at best provides marginal improvements in data
security and integrity. This is simply because it provides no more tolerance to the theft of
the base unit, nor to power surges or computer power supply failures (which can simply fry
two or more hard drives at once rather than one). A summary of RAID can also be found in
my Explaining RAID video.
EXTERNAL HARD DISKS / DIRECT ATTACHED STORAGE (DAS)
Except where two internal hard disks are considered essential on the basis of performance
(and possibly convenience), a second hard disk is today most advisably connected as an
external unit, or what is sometimes now known as a "DAS" or direct attached storage
drive. DAS external hard disks connect via a USB, firewire or an E-SATA interface (see the
hardware section), with USBbeing the most common. The highest quality external hard
drives routinely include at least two of these interfaces as standard, hence maximising their
flexibility for moving data between different computers. As explained in the networking
section, today some external hard disks can also be purchased as NAS (network attached
storage) devices that can easily be shared between users across a network.
For most purposes, external hard disks offer comparable performance to most internal hard
disks -- even when used for highly disk intensive processes such as video editing. This will
be especially the case when a drive is connected via an interface such as USB 3.0. External
hard disks also have the added convenience of being easily physically separable from the
computer for secure and/or off-site storage. A user can also purchase additional external
hard disks as their data storage requirements dictate.
External hard disk units normally include one 3.5" or 2.5" hard disk inside their case. Units
with a 3.5" disk tend to offer a cheaper cost per megabyte. Units based on 2.5" drives are
smaller and usually do not require an external power adapter (as a computer can supply
enough electricity down the USB or firewire hard disk connection cable). Some external hard
disks now include several physical disks inside one unit in some form of RAID configuration.
External hard disks offer a user fast and high-capacity external storage with a low cost-per-
megabyte. In most instances, they are also only real option where high capacity, random
access data archives have to be maintained. This said, many users will never have such
archives, and there are several other disadvantages to DAS-style external hard disks.
For a start, whilst their cost-per-megabyte is low, their cost-per-unit is high compared to
most optical media and solid state storage devices. External hard disks are also fairly easy
to physically damage via impact or by getting them wet. Reliance on a single external hard
drive can also place an entire data archive "in one basket", and is of no use at all where data
either needs to be physically exchanged between users (as still happens even in the days of
the Internet), or has to be accessed via a media device to which an external hard disk
cannot be connected.
External hard drive units are also somewhat cumbersome for those wrangling tens of
terabyes of data. For this reason, some people now transfer and store large quantities of
data on bare hard disks connected to their computer as required (and usually via a flying E-
SATA lead). However, this is hardly ideal, not least because both connectors and the drives
themselves can become damaged. As shown above in my Explaining Data Wrangling video,
one solution for those who need to work with a great many hard drives is to use house the
disks in caddies that then slot into PC-mounted bay. Such caddies can sometimes also be
connected to other computers via USB or E-SATA.
As a consequence of the above limitations, computer users handling both small and large
quantities of data tend not to rely entirely on hard disk technology, and will therefore also
make use of optical, solid-state or online storage technologies.
OPTICAL DISK STORAGE
Almost all optical storage involves the use of a 5" disk from which data is read by a laser.
Optical media can be read only (such as commercial software, music or movie disks), write-
one, or rewritable, and currently exists in one of three basic formats. These are compact
disk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD)and Blu-Ray disk (BD). A fourth format called High-
Definition DVD (HD DVD) is now dead-in-the-water.
Compact disk is a very mature, low-cost and reliable storage media particularly well suited
for most personal computer users for incremental data archiving, as well as for the physical
exchange of moderate-sized qualities of data. Writable compact disks can be either CD-R
(which are a write-one media) or CD-RW (to which data can be written and erased typically a
few hundred times). The storage capacity of a compact disk is up to about 700MB for CD-R
and somewhat less for CD-RW media (and depending on the format used to write the data).
For the reliable back-up or exchange of up to 700MB of data there is still little to beat a
compact disk. Problems accessing a CD-R disk are now very rare, and the cost of the disks is
low if bought in bulk in "pancakes" of 25, 50 or 100 disks. The media are also physically very
durable -- and certainly considerably more so than an external hard disk. The only real
drawbacks to compact disks for data storage are the speed of access (even if a modern
drive will write and verify a CD-R in well under five minutes) and the relatively limited
capacity.
DVD followed compact disk into the optical storage arena, and most new computers are
now equipped with an optical drive that will read and write both CD and DVD media. Due to
format battles as yet unresolved (and now unlikely ever to be resolved!), DVD comes in two
write-once formats (DVD-R and DVD+R), as well as two re-writable formats (DVD+RW and
DVD-RW). Many older DVD writers will only write to either DVD-R and DVD-RW or to DVD+R
and DVD+RW, so users need to take care to purchase the right media. Also many DVD
drives will only read one type of rewritable media, and again users need to carefully take
this into account when producing disks for other people. In general, it is fairly widely
accepted that DVD+R is the most "stable" widely-readable write-once format (especially in
domestic DVD video players) due to having superior error correction and burning control
than DVD-R, whilst DVD+RW is the most flexible re-writable format.
To make matters a little more confusing, Panasonic also created a format called DVD RAM.
This is actually a superb re-writable technology (disks can reliably be re-written tens of
thousands of times, as opposed realistically to hundreds of times for DVD-RW or DVD+RW).
DVD RAM disks are also starting to be widely used in domestic DVD recorders, and are
available in caddy units that can be either single or double sided. For video recording
purposes and stable data archiving, DVD RAM is the media of choice. The only constraint is
that many DVD drives still won't read or write DVD RAM disks (although the number is
rapidly growing), with even fewer drives accepting the caddied disks that offer the media
the best protection from dust, and hence maximum the durability. Windows XP also has only
limited support for DVD RAM.
The standard capacity for any format of DVD media is 4.7GB. Commercial read-only disks
(as used to distribute movies) double this to 8.5GB by storing the data on two layers. Yet
two more formats of DVD write-one disk (DVD-R DL and DVD+R DL) also exist to copy the
same trick to raise writeable DVD data storage capacity to 8.5GB. However, once again not
all drives will write these media, and in terms of cost per gigabyte it remains far cheaper (if
less environmentally or archive-space friendly) to write two DVD-R or DVD+R disks rather
than a single double layer (DL) disk. Double-sided DVD RAM disks -- that physically have to
be turned over to read or write the other side -- have a capacity of 9.4GB.
Blu-Ray disk is the high-capacity successor to DVD, and the only surviving new optical disk
media on the block. It was developed by the Blu-Ray Disk Association (BDA) as a higher-
capacity replacement for DVD (and especially to allow for the distribution and home
recording of movies in high definition). Whilst most of the attention in this area has until
recently been focused on Blu-Ray's battle with HD DVD (see below), for computer users Blu-
Ray already offers write-once (BD-R) and re-writable (BD-RE) disk capacities of 25GB on a
single-layer disk and 50GB on a dual layer disks. Just as importantly for the format, multi-
hundred GB disks are already in the lab and on the consumer horizon.
More information on Blu-Ray can be found via the FAQ files at Blu-Ray.com.
It is worth noting for completeness that HD DVD was the contender to Blu-Ray Disk to
replace DVD as the next generation optical storage media for both computer data storage
and domestic video use. HD DVD disks had a 15GB capacity (lower than Blu-Ray disk at 25
or 50GB, and not that much higher than dual layer DVD-R DL or DVD+R DL disks at 8.5GB).
HD DVD was created by Toshiba and NEC, and was backed by Microsoft. However, most
movie studios and other computer industry players (including Sony, Panasonic, Philips,
Samsung, Pioneer, Sharp, JVC, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, TDK, Thomson, LG, Apple, HP and Dell)
were on the side of Blu-Ray. Indeed, it was following the defection in early 2008 of Warner
Bros from HD DVD camp that Blu-Ray won the high capacity optical disk format wars.
Hurrah!
As an aside, in the television industry, Sony now sells professional video cameras and
recorders that use its own 23.3GB XD-CAM optical disk storage system.
Whatever format of optical disk media users choose, an ongoing debate concerns the
archival qualities of all forms of optical media (ie how likely it is that data is going to remain
on a disk in the long-term). Everybody seems to agree that archives should never be made
on re-writable media (ie CD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RW or BD-RE), and advice to make new
copies of optical media at least once every few years is not uncommon. For an in-depth
discussion of this issue, see this excellent article on How To Choose CD/DVD Archival Media.
And if you don't want an in-depth discussion, the short recommendation from this article is
to archive on write-once media manufactured by Taiyo Yuden (the creators of recordable
CD), and as available in the UK from retailers including DVDshoponline. To make matters far
easier, in 2010 Taiyo Yuden bought the JVC Media brand, meaning that Taiyo Yuden media
can now be purchased in (some) JVC boxes. Another solid archival option is to purchase
"gold archival" DVD media made by Verbatum or Kodak, and fairly widely available (if at
about triple the cost of standard DVD-R or DVD+R disks).
SOLID STATE DRIVES
Solid state storage devices store computer data on non-volatile "flash" memory chips rather
than by changing the surface properties of a magnetic or optical spinning disk. With no
moving parts solid state drives (SSDs) -- are also very much the future for almost all forms
of computer storage.
Sometime in the second half of this decade, solid state drives are likely to replace spinning
hard disks in most computers, with several manufacturers now offering hard-disk-
replacement SSDs. These are often very fast indeed, extremely robust and use very little
power. As pictured above, typically today most hard disk replacement SSDs are the same
size -- and hence a direct replacement for -- a 2.5" hard drive. They also usually connect via
a SATA interface.
Unfortunately the prices of solid state drives are currently high, with the lowest capacity
disks (of 30 to 64GB) costing in the £60 to £120 bracket, and the highest capacity disks
(currently up to 512GB) being in the region of £1,000. At present SSDs are therefore
generally only being used in high-end PCs and laptops, and as a means of increasing
robustness, reducing noise, decreasing power consumption, and often significantly
decreasing boot-up times.
FLASH MEMORY CARDS
The above discussion of hard-disk replacement SSDs noted, at present for most people most
solid state storage devices come in two basic forms: flash memory cards and USB memory
sticks.
Flash memory cards were developed as a storage media for digital cameras and mobile
computers. They consist of a small plastic package with a contact array that slots into a
camera or other mobile computing device, or an appropriate memory card reader. Such
readers usually have several slots (to accommodate the various formats of flash memory
cards now available), and can either be integrated into a desktop computer or laptop's case,
or connected via a USB port as an external hardware unit. In addition to still and video
digital cameras, many mobile phones, tablets, netbooks, media players, audio recorders and
televisions now also have slots for reading and writing a flash memory card.
The capacity of flash memory cards on the market currently ranges from 8MB to 64GB.
There are also six major card formats, each with its own type of card slot. The most common
format is the secure digital or SD card (see below). Next most popular are compact flash
(CF) cards, which were the first popular format introduced, and which are used by many
professional digital cameras and audio recorders. Finally come Sony's Memory stick format
(and not to be confused with a USB memory stick), the multi-media card (MMC) and the
xD picture card (XD card).
Adapters are available to allow a compact flash card to be connected to a computer's
motherboard instead of a hard disk, and these are becoming popular on small-format
computers running the Linux operating system. As another aside, Panasonic have their own
video recording flash memory card format called the P2 card. This is internally based on four
high-speed SD cards, currently available in 16, 32 or 64GB capacities, and is used instead of
tape on some professional video equipment. In April 2007, Sandisk and Sony also released
an alternative flash memory card format -- the SxS card -- currently also available in 16, 32
and 64GB capacities. This said, even in professional video, compact flash and even SD cards
are becoming the dominant recording media.
SD CARDS
SD cards are as noted above the most popular flash memory cards now on the market, and
come in so many variants that they do require some explanation. For a start, SD cards come
in three physical sizes. These comprise standard-size SD cards (first developed in 1999),
smaller mini SD cards (introduced on some mobile phones in 2003), and the even smaller
micro SD cards. The latter were invented in 2005 and are becoming increasingly popular
on smartphones and tablets. While the larger cards cannot fit in smaller card slots, adapters
are available to enable micro and mini cards to be accessed by any device that accepts a
standard-size card.
SD cards also come in three capacity types known as SD, SDHC and SDXC. The first of
these can store up to 2GB of data. SDHC (SD high capacity) cards are then available in
capacities of between 4 and 32 GB, while SDXC (SD extended capacity) cards range from
32GB up to a theoretical 2TB (although at present only 64GB cards are on the market).
Because SD cards now come in three capacity syltes, not all SD devices can access all SD
cards of the same physical design. While standard SD cards can be read by anything, SDHC
cards should only be inserted into SDHC or SDXC devices. SDXC cards must then only be
used with the latest SDXC hardware. If you try to use an SDXC or SDHC card in a device that
does not support it then you may lose data or even damage the card.
To further add to the confusion(!), SD cards are currently also available in five speed
classes. These are known as class 2, class 4, class 6, class 10, and UHS-1 (ultra high
speed 1). Many manufacturers also label cards with a speed multiple that compares them to
a CD-ROM drive. Absolute data transfer ratings are sometimes also included. However, in
practical terms it is the speed class that really matters.
As may be expected, the higher an SD card's speed class, the faster it will be but the more it
will cost. For most purposes class 4 or class 6 cards are fine. This said, class 10 or UHS-1 are
best for high definition video or when otherwise handling large quantities of data. You can
learn lots more about SD cards in my Explaining SD Cards video, as well as from the SD
Association.
USB MEMORY STICKS
USB memory sticks (or USB memory keys, USB memory drives, or whatever you choose to
call them!) are basically a combination of a flash memory card and a flash memory card
reader in one handy and tiny package. Over the past five years, USB memory sticks have
also become the dominant means of removable, re-writable portable data storage, and look
set to remain so for some time. Not least this is because of their size, ever-increasing
capacity (which currently ranges from about 512MB to 256GB), and perhaps most
importantly their inherent durability.
As with other storage devices, there are two key factors to consider when selecting a USB
memory stick: capacity and data transfer speed. Whilst most consumer attention remains on
the former, the later can be at least as critical. It is not uncommon for some USB memory
sticks to transfer data at least ten or more times slower than others (I recently compared
transferring 1GB of files between a high-specification Corsair Voyager USB memory stick and
a cheaper "own brand" model and measured transfer times of under 2 minutes and
approaching 30). The extent to which this matters depends as discussed previously on
whether the data in your archive is only updated incrementally (with each new document),
or more completely (with a large number or a few large files replaced on a regular basis). A
USB memory stick that takes 30 minutes to shift a gigabyte of data is fine if you only copy a
few tens of MB or less to it per day. However, if you regularly have to back-up multiple GB,
you need a fast USB memory key if you are not to lose your sanity.
Fortunately, just why some solid state disks are slower than others is not a mystery. Rather,
it is a function of the type of flash memory chips used to hold the data. Without going into
great technicalities, these chips come in two varieties called single level cell (SLC) and
multi level cell(MLC). Basically, MLC flash chips store two or more bits of data in each
memory cell, whilst SLC chips store only one. MLC solid state disks are therefore cheaper to
produce than SLC disks at any given capacity, but due to storing more than one bit of
information in each memory cell take longer to write and read data. If you need a fast USB
key, memory card or indeed hard-disk replacement SSD then you need to pay more to
obtain an SLC device.
NETWORK AND ONLINE STORAGE
Many computer users may never have to back-up their data to a removable media or
external hard drive (and indeed may be discouraged or banned from doing so) because their
files will be stored and backed-up on their company's network servers. Even in the home
(and as discussed in the networking section), back-up to a server is also now an option for
many. Far more fundamentally, all of those switching in whole or part to cloud computing
are now storing at least some of their data out on the Internet. And even those not using
online applications and processing power now have the option of backing up moderate
amounts of data online, and often for free!
Files stored and/or backed-up online are still saved to a hard disk rather than to some
magic, new alternative media. However, the fact that the disk is located remotely to your
computer, can be accessed from anywhere, and is probably backed up by the service
provider(?), can make online storage and back-up very attractive. Indeed, when Google
added 1GB of free online storage for any type of file to its Google Docs online office suite it
even stated in the press release that one of their intentions was to remove the need for
people to use and carry USB memory keys.
Cloud data storage services come in two flavours. Some simply provide online filespace,
whilst others additionally include a back-up synchronization service. An online filespace can
be thought of as a hard disk in the cloud that can be accessed with a web browser to upload
or download files. As already noted, Google Docs offers 15GB of free online storage. Another
popular online filespace provider is box.net.
For those people who may forget to regularly back-up their data to one of the above, there
are cloud storage services that automate the process. These require the installation of a
piece of software on each computer that uses them. This local application then
automatically backs up data to the cloud, and may also synchronize it across PCs. Such a
service is offered by Dropbox, which describes itself as a kind of 'magic pocket' that
becomes available on all of your computing devices.
STORAGE SUMMARY
Every major media has now gone digital, and as a result both companies and individuals are
creating an increasing volume of data not just to initially store, but just as importantly to
manage and back-up into a coherent archive. Indeed, in the film industry where the digital
storage requirements for high-speed, random access archives can run into tens of terabytes
on a major blockbuster, the job title of "data wrangler" has been born to signal the
requirement for people to take on effective data management in order keep the production
running effectively. (With the decline of the Western, there has been a decline in the need
for horse wranglers, though sadly the skill sets required for data wranglers and horse
wranglers are not similar, with no former horse wrangler having been reported to have taken
up residence in a data center).
Back with the typical computer user, the last few years have seen the death of the floppy
disk (with its 1.44MB capacity), and for many the digitization of photography and their music
collection. Video collections are also due to go the same way. Many if not the majority of
households as well as businesses now therefore have many gigabytes of data that they
really don't want to lose. The devices and methods employed for keeping this data safe can
be varied. And yet still, for some businesses and a great many individuals, the key storage
issue to address is maintaining any level of suitable data backup at all . . .

What are file extensions

A file extension, or file name extension, is the letters immediately shown after the last
period in a file name. For example, the file extension.txt has an extension of .txt. This
extension allows the operating system to know what type of file it is and what program
to run when you double-click on it. There are no particular rules regarding how an
extension should be formatted other than it must begin with a period and have at least
one character after it. For the most part, file extensions consist of three characters,
which are typically letters or digits, that textually represent the type of file it is. Some
examples of file extensions include .txt, .mp3, .jpg, and .gz, which represent text files,
mp3 files, jpeg image files, and files compressed with the gzip program. As you can see,
the actual extension name gives clues as to the type of file it is.

When trying to determine a file's extension it is important to remember that the

extension is simply the last period in a file and the characters that follow it. If there is no
period in a file, then it does not have an extension. To make it easier to see what a files
extension are, please see the examples in the chart below:

Filename Extension Notes

report_card.txt .txt The extension is the period followed by the
remaining characters.
Terminal.app .app The extension is the period followed by the
remaining characters.
Postcard.pdf.ex .exe This one is a bit tricky, because there are
e two periods in this file. The important thing
to remember is the extension is the last
period and the characters that follow it.

As already said, an operating system knows what programs to use in order to view,
print, or edit a particular file by looking at its file extension. It is able to do this because
each operating system has in its configuration a default mapping between a particular
file extension and a particular program. Using this information, when a user clicks on a
file, the operating reads the file extension and then launches the mapped application.
Typically, if the extension is unknown to the operating system or no application
mapping exists, it will prompt the user to specify the program that it would like to open
the file with.

By defaults, Windows and the Mac OS do not show file extensions. To view file
extensions you would first need to enable them using the following guides:

■ How to show file name extensions on a Mac

■ How to show File Extensions in Windows

It is also possible to change the program that your operating system uses to open a
particular extension. This will be described in tutorials that can be found in the Further
Reading section below.

How to change the program associated with a file extension

As already mentioned, file extensions are mapped to a particular program so that when
you attempt to use the file, the operating system knows which application to launch.
There may come a time that you wish to change a default association so that you can
use a different program to automatically open the file. For example, when you open a
image file on Windows it defaults to using the pre-installed Windows Photo Viewer. In
the future if you find a new program that you would like to use instead, you can change
the associations for image files so that they instead are opened by the new program.

For more information about how to change the default program a file extension opens
with, please select one of the tutorials below based upon your particular operating
system:
 ■ How to open a file with a different program on your Mac
■ How to change the default program a file opens with in Windows XP
■ How to change the default program a file opens with in Windows Vista
and Windows 7
■ How to change or select which program starts when you double-click a
file in Windows 8

How malware writers use extensions to trick you into running a virus

A common trick that malware developers will use to trick you into running a computer
infection is to send an email attachment that has a file name that contains two periods
in it. An example of this type of file name is sales_report.xls.exe. As you can see the file
has an .exe extension on it, which means it is an executable. Seeing that a file has this
name and is an executable is enough of a hint that you should probably not run the
program. On the other hand, what happens if there was a way to make it so that the .exe
extension was stripped from the file name so that it appears as sales_reports.xls? That
is a much more innocuous looking name, and if you receive this from someone you
work with who may be infected, there is a good chance you will think it is legitimate and
therefore double-click on it. Once you double-click on it, the file will then execute,
because it is actually an executable, and infect your computer.

The malware developers know that this method works because by default Windows
does not show you file extensions. Therefore, if you do not have file extensions enabled,
windows will just show you everything before the last period in the file name and you
may think that it is the full name. Therefore, it is a common tactic for network worms or
spammers to send out attachments containing these "double" extensions as they know
that Microsoft will strip off the last one and thus making it seem like a safe file.

Due to this, it is important to always show file extensions in Windows so that you cannot
mistakenly fall for this trick. For information on how to enable file extensions, please
see this tutorial:

How to show File Extensions in Windows

Common File Extensions

Below are a list of common file extensions that you may find on your computer or over
the Internet.

Audio Extensions

Extension Description

.aif A Audio Interchange File is an audio file format that is most

commonly used on Apple Macintosh computer systems.

.m3u M3U files are used to store multimedia play lists.

.mp3 An MP3 file is the most common file format used to store
digital audio for use on computers and digital media
devices.
.ra Audio files created by RealAudio.
.wav A WAV, or Waveform Audio File Format, is a audio file
format used to store audio on PCs.
.wma Windows Media Audio, or WMA, files is a audio file format
developed by Microsoft.

Video Extensions

Extension Description

.avi A Audio Video Interleave, or AVI, file is a video and audio

file created by Microsoft.
.flv Flash video files.
.mov Apple QuickTime movie.
.mp4 A video file.
.mpg A MPEG video file.
wmv A Windows Media Video, or WMV, file is a video file type
created by Microsoft.

Image Extensions

Extension Description
.bmp A Bitmap, or BMP, file is an image file used to store bitmap
digital images. These files are typically found in Windows.

.cur The CUR file format is used to store non-animated cursors

in Windows.
.ico The ICO file format is used to store computer icons in
Microsoft Windows.
.gif A Graphics Interchange Format, or GIF, is an image file
format created by Compuserve. This is a common format
to find on a computer and the Internet.

.jpg A JPEG image file is a common file found on computers

and the Internet.
.jpeg Another extension that corresponds to a JPEG image file.

.png A Portable Network Graphic, or PNG, is an image file that

was created to replace GIF files. This is a common format
to find on a computer and the Internet.

.psd A Photoshop Document, or PSD, file is used to store

images created by Adobe Photoshop.
.raw The raw image format is commonly used by digital
cameras to save a picture in a format that has not currently
been processed.
.tif The Tagged Image File Format, or TIF, is an image file that
is commonly used by graphic artists and photographers.

Workplace Applications and Text Files Extensions

Extension Description

.csv A Comma Separated Value, or CSV, file is a text file that

contains lines of data that are separated by commas.

.doc A Word Document, or DOC, file is the extension that Word

would save its documents.
.docx Starting in Word 2007, the .docx file format became the
standard file that Microsoft Word would save files as.

.log A text file typically containing a textual log of what an

application or computer process has done or transmitted.

.pdf A Portable Document Format, or PDF, file is a file format

that was created by Adobe Systems. This file format is
 used to create documents that contain a specific fixed
layout regardless of the operating system or application
that opens them.
.pps A Microsoft PowerPoint slide show file.
.ppt A PowerPoint Document, or PPT, file is the extension that
PowerPoint would save its documents.

.pptx Starting in PowerPoint 2007, the .pptx file format became

the standard file that Microsoft PowerPoint would save
files as.
.rtf A Rich Text Format, or RTF, file was created by Microsoft to
allow the formatting of text, such as bold or underline, in a
text document.
.txt A text file is a file that contains textual data without any
formatting.
.wpd The standard file format for saving WordPerfect
documents.
.wps A Microsoft Works document.
.xlr A Microsoft Works spreadsheet file.
.xls A Excel Document, or XLS, was the standard file format
that Microsoft Excel would saved files as. This was
changed to .xlsx starting with Excel 2007.
.xlsx Starting in Excel 2007, the .docx file format became the
standard file that Microsoft Excel would save files as.

Compressed Files or Archive Extensions

Extension Description

.7z An archive format that was originally created by the 7-Zip

archiver.
.bz2 A file that was compressed using bzip2. This file format is
commonly used on Linux and Unix systems.

.cab A Cabinet, or CAB, file is a compressed archive format

used by Microsoft.
.deb A Debian Software Package, or DEB, file is a file used to
install applications in Debian.
.gz A file that was compressed using gzip. This file format is
commonly used on Linux and Unix systems.

.pkg A Package, or PKG, file is a file used to install applications

in Apple OS.
.rar A Roshal Archive, or RAR, file is an archive format used by
WinRar.
.rpm A RPM Package Manager, or RPM, is a file that used to
install applications in Linux operating systems.

.sit A Stuffit, or SIT, file is a compressed archive that was

developed by Stuffit.
.sitx A Stuffit X-compressed, or SITX, file is a compressed
archive from Stuffit.
.tar An archive file created by the Tar utility. This type of file
format is commonly found on the Linux & Unix operating
systems.
.tar.gz A Tar file that was compressed using the Gzip utility.
.zip A ZIP file is a compress archive file. This is the most
common and popular compressed archive that you will find
on a computer and in the Internet. Windows and Macintosh
have built-in support for Zip files.

.Z A file that has been compressed with the Linux or Unix

compress command.

Web & Internet Extensions

Extension Description

.css A Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, file contains style sheet

language that dictates how the HTML in a HTML file should
be displayed.
.htm A Hypertext Markup Language, or HTML, files contain
HTML markup language, which is used to display
formatted content on web pages.
.html A Hypertext Markup Language, or HTML, files contain
HTML markup language, which is used to display
formatted content on web pages.
.js A Javascript, or JS, file contains scripts that should be
executed by your web browser.
.part When you download a file, the downloaded information will
be stored in a part file until it is completed. Once it is
completed, the file will then be renamed into the files'
actual name.

Disk Image Extensions

Extension Description

.dmg An Apple Disk Image, or DMG, file is a file that contains a

archive of a hard disk or CD/DVD.
.iso An ISO image is an archive of an optical drive, such as a CD
or DVD drive.

E-Mail Extensions

Extension Description

.eml Some applications like Microsoft Outlook Express,

Windows Mail, and Mozilla Thunderbird save your e-mail as
individual eml files on your hard drive. If you double-click
them, your mail client will open the individual email that it
represents.
.emlx Similar as the .eml files, but are for Apple Mail messages.

.mbx A MBX file that represents a particular folder in your mail

client. The name of the file will typically be named after the
actual folder it represents.
.pst A Microsoft Outlook data file that contains all of your
contacts, e-mail, mailboxes, and calendar.
.vcf A vCard, or VCF, is a file that acts as an electronic business
card. When you receive these via email, you can open them
and have the details of the contact imported into your Mail
Client.

Executable Extensions

Extension Description

.app An Application, or APP, is a Mac OS application. These

applications are actually folders with the extension of .App.

.bat A batch file is a text file containing a series of commands

that will be executed when the batch file is launched.

.cgi A Common Gateway Interface, or CGI, file is an executable

file that is allowed to run on a web server.

.com This is an executable file for Dos & Windows operating

 systems.
.exe This is an executable file for Dos & Windows operating
systems.
.pif A Program Information File, or PIF, file is used to launch a
DOS program in a Windows multi-tasking environment
using certain settings.
.vbs A file containing visual basic script that can be executed by
double-clicking on it.

Windows Extensions

Extension Description

.cpl A Windows Control Panel file. Double-clicking this will

launch the associated control panel.
.dll A Dynamic Link Library, or DLL, is a shared library in
Windows. Executables will use these DLL files in order to
properly run.
.dmp A memory dump file that was generated by Windows when
a program crashed. These memory dump files can be used
to determine why a particular program crashed.

.lnk These types of files are links or shortcuts to an executable

located elsewhere on the Windows operating system.
These .lnk files are just a pointer to the executable and can
be deleted without affecting the executable itself.

.msi A Windows installer file that can be used to install an

application on your computer.
.reg A Windows Registry file that can be used to make
modifications to the Windows Registry. You should never
double-click on these unless you know what they are going
to do.
.sys A Windows driver files that allows Windows to
communicate with the hardware installed on your
computer.
.tmp A temp file created by a program. These temp files should
be deleted automatically when a program is closed. They
are safe to remove.

Settings Extensions
Extension Description

.cfg A config file that contains configuration information on

how a piece of software should operate.
.conf A config file that contains configuration information on
how a piece of software should operate.
.ini An initialization file that contains settings a program will
configure itself with when it starts.

Font Extensions

Extension Description

.fnt A Windows font file. If you double-click this type of file you
will be able to see the particular font in numerous sizes.

.fon A Windows font file. If you double-click this type of file you
will be able to see the particular font in numerous sizes.

.ttf A TrueType font file. If you double-click this type of file you
will be able to see the particular font in numerous sizes.

Programming & Source File Extensions

Extension Description

.asp An Active Server Pages, or ASP, source file that contains

source code for Microsoft's ASPserver-side scripting
language.
.c A C file contains source code for the C programming
language.
.cpp A CPP file contains source for the C++ programming
language.
.h A header file for the C/C++ programming language.
.java A Java file contains the source code file for the JAVA
programming language.
.php A PHP file contains the source code file for the PHP
programming language.
.pl A PL file contains the source code file for the PERL
programming language.
.py A PY file contains the source code file for the Python
 programming language.
.xml An Extensible Markup Language file. These types of files
offer a way to textual data in a manner that it can be used
by any program that supports the XML language.