What is a file extension — CCA-F Exam Prep

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REAL STORY An email inbox from the year 2000 showing a message with subject 'ILOVEYOU' and an attachment named 'LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs'. The .TXT is highlighted in green (fake), the .vbs is highlighted in red (real). Old Windows interface style.

An email inbox from the year 2000 showing a message with subject 'ILOVEYOU' and an attachment named 'LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs'. The .TXT is highlighted in green (fake), the .vbs is highlighted in red (real). Old Windows interface style.

May 4, 2000. An email arrived with the subject line 'ILOVEYOU.' The attachment was named LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs.

The .TXT was fake -- just part of the filename. The real extension was .vbs, which told Windows to run it as a program. But Windows hid the real extension by default. People saw .TXT and thought: safe text file. They double-clicked.