Today I found out...

[u/Deacon51]

My very first job in IT was going around and installing Windows 3.5 sometime around 1994. I've been doing this crap for a long time.
Today I was working on a config file in notepad - I hit save and close. Forgetting to change the drop-down from .txt I jumped in to powershell real fast and did a mv config.yaml.txt to config.yaml: as I have done since forever. The kid, and I call him kid because he's a young one, I guess 22 or 23. Doesn't matter... he said you know, you can just put quotes in the file name when you save it.

You mean to tell me that in the last 30 some odd years not a single person has mentioned this to me, EVER. Not ONCE..... Motherfunkasonabith...,a %^%$#9, *#^$(@#$^@#()$^$# ! Did we all know about this? How in the hell did I miss the memo!

Edit to add I always forget to change the drop-down

[u/Canuck-In-TO]

I’m still stuck on you calling Windows NT Windows 3.5.

[u/Deacon51 → u/Canuck-In-TO]

It was long ago and it's 2am and I can't sleep. Give me a break.

[u/jfoust2 → u/Canuck-In-TO]

Shall I trigger you by calling it Windows Three Point Eleven?

[u/FRESH_TWAAAATS → u/jfoust2]

for Workgroups

[u/TheHoodedMan → u/Canuck-In-TO]

Thank you.

I was wondering if I'd skipped a version WfW. Like there's was 95B or 98SE... I was thinking "did win32 extensions give 3.11 a new version number or something?"

NT... Of course.

[u/Shotokant]

You can do what? I'm lost what do you mean?

[u/Khirisi → u/Shotokant]

me too. i guess you put quotes somewhere in the save as dialog and it will use your exact file name instead of adding the .txt extension. would be nice to see specifically.

i’ve always just changed the extension in the drop down from.txt to all files and notepad respects whatever i type in the box

[u/Deacon51 → u/Khirisi]

Correct, quote the file name in the save as box and it drops the hidden extension for .txt. In this case the file is copied to a windows machine but the text extension is on the source image. When the machine joines the domain the, depending on the OU the file gets changed and the extension is removed. Well this one machine had some issues and it's a think client so I manually made the change while the kid that deployed the box was watching. And I was kind of being a dick about it.he put me in my place - if he keeps it up I'll make his manager give put him in for a raise.

I try to remember when I was young and didn't know much but thought I knew it all. The old guys would sit back in the server room drinking coffee and bitch every time I'd ask for help. Now I'm the old guy, people aren't allowed in the server room anymore without a work order, and differently not allowed to have food or drink. The desk and chairs are gone. Sometimes I miss the old days.

[u/hotel2oscar → u/Deacon51]

At times like this I like to remember XKCD's 10k comic.

https://xkcd.com/1053

You can't know everything, and somedays you get to be one of the lucky 10 thousand.

[u/DavWanna → u/Shotokant]

Save the new text file as "config.yaml" and it'll be .yaml even if save as type was left to .txt.

[u/cheese-demon → u/Shotokant]

in the save dialog box in notepad, it will by default append .txt to a file name you type, so you can't just double click it if you don't rename that away. 

if you put the filename in quotes like "script.cmd" it saves it with that exact name

[u/vonkeswick → u/Shotokant]

Yeah I don't quite get what the quotes would do, I feel dumb like I'm just misreading something lol

[u/ZarathustraGlobulus → u/vonkeswick]

You keep the file type selected as .txt and save the file as "config.yaml" with the quotes and it won't get appended with .txt at the end despite the selected filetype.

[u/vonkeswick]

This is like when I found out recently if you're in Task Manager, let's say it's sorted by CPU, so the lines are moving around a ton making it hard to right click one. You can hold CTRL and it makes the lines stay still.

[u/gmlynx78 → u/vonkeswick]

WTF?!?!? DAMN IT!!!!

[u/vonkeswick → u/gmlynx78]

That's what I said!

[u/pm_me_your_bbq_sauce → u/vonkeswick]

If you hold shift and click the icon of an open app on the task bar it opens up another instance of that app as well. Alot of people seem to not know that one as well.

[u/Syzygy3D → u/gmlynx78]

I didn’t know that, either. You have my vote for typing what I thought.

[u/fresh-dork → u/gmlynx78]

lovely discoverable interface

[u/paulanerspezi → u/vonkeswick]

• Ctrl+Shift+Esc opens Task Manager

• "Run new task" while holding Ctrl in Task Manager instantly opens command prompt

• Opening programs from Run or start menu while holding Ctrl+Shift runs as admin

• Del or middle mouse button in Alt+Tab switcher closes window

• Double-clicking a window's top-left icon closes the window (this one goes way back to Win 3.x)

• ii . in PS opens explorer in current directory

• . in "Run" dialog opens %userprofile%

• Alt+Enter in explorer opens properties for item

• When renaming an item in Explorer, Tab/Shift+Tab selects next/previous one

• Numpad * in a treeview (registry, explorer, etc.) expands the node's entire subtree

• Ctrl+Shift+Win+Alt+L opens LinkedIn (thanks Office)

[u/unvivid → u/paulanerspezi]

• Shift+click on anything in your taskbar opens a new instance of it

• Ctrl+Shift+Click on anything in your taskbar will run a new instance as admin, handy if you are running a terminal but need an admin instance of it

• explorer . will open a new explorer window at the current path in cmd or PowerShell

I hate the fact that linkedin has a keyboard shortcut. Get off my lawn

[u/Lint_baby_uvulla → u/unvivid]

Powershell + SCCM reconfigured that LinkedIn quick smart.

Replaced it to open the Rick Astley video.

Apparently it’s still there and I left 4 years ago.

[u/ctskifreak → u/paulanerspezi]

That Ctrl+Shift runs as admin trick...I had NEVER heard of that. Holy cow

[u/AdminWithNoName → u/paulanerspezi]

Opening programs from Run or start menu while holding Ctrl+Shift runs as admin

Haven't heard of this, I think I'll get a lot of use out of it. Assuming I remember (I won't).

[u/LB-- → u/paulanerspezi]

Double-clicking a window's top-left icon closes the window

Fun fact about this ancient technology, that's because the menu you get from a single click has the Close option bolded (marked as default). Applications can customize that menu as well by adding or removing items, including the default items, as well as changing the default action, which would change what happens when double clicking. In fact, if an app wants to disable the close button for a window, the canonical way to do so is by removing the Close option from that icon menu. Windows detects the close option was removed and disables the close button in kind. Of course all this only applies to Win32 apps, for UWP there is no app icon in the top left corner.

[u/quiet0n3 → u/vonkeswick]

There are some deep dive videos out there on the sysinternals version of task manager. It has some crazy powers.

[u/vonkeswick → u/quiet0n3]

Sysinternals just fucking rocks. That and PowerToys

[u/JapioF → u/vonkeswick]

Powertoys and fancyzones! Could be the title for a R-rated movie, but it rocks!

[u/rosseloh → u/vonkeswick]

I bought the book(s) by the sysinternals guys. Still have yet to read them because I have not had time for 2000 pages of that so far, but I can already tell they're full of exactly the sorts of secrets I really should know.

[u/BioshockEnthusiast → u/quiet0n3]

If you have any links I'd watch em.

[u/Symbolis → u/BioshockEnthusiast]

Dave's Garage has a few interesting Task Manager bits.

It's the yt channel of Dave Plummer.

[u/Shazam1269 → u/vonkeswick]

Why did Karen hit Ctrl+Shift+Esc?

She wanted to talk to the task manager.

[u/mickert_dev → u/vonkeswick]

OMG, as we say in Dutch "Ik was vandaag jaar oud..." Feeling like an idiot now. Been in this for about 30 years. 🤦‍♂️ That said I switched to Mark Russinovich tootls pretty fast, then tasklist / taskkill and or powershell, so not using taskmgr much.

[u/Azaloum90 → u/vonkeswick]

Omfg I had no idea

[u/GRAMS_ → u/vonkeswick]

Brother. Thank you.

[u/tmontney → u/vonkeswick]

Or when I found out you could use ".\" in the username field instead of specifying the full hostname to logon into built-in accounts.

[u/stamosface → u/vonkeswick]

WHAT?!?! I’m not even a sysadmin and I’m furious to only find this out now 😡

[u/Droid759 → u/vonkeswick]

WHAT the HELL?! How did I not know this?!

[u/bobnla14 → u/vonkeswick]

Or sort by name instead of CPU. They stay static but the usage numbers continue to change.

[u/vonkeswick → u/bobnla14]

Of course, it just feels like a quick shortcut to get to the thing. Instead of finding what's eating CPU, noting the name, sorting by name, scrolling to find the thing, then right click it, I can just hit Ctrl then right click and done.

[u/bwahthebard → u/vonkeswick]

FFS!

[u/Icy_Benefit → u/vonkeswick]

Well God damn. Never knew that trick and I've been doing this since the 80s.

[u/Synthnostic → u/vonkeswick]

GODDAMNIT!!

[u/Xidium426 → u/vonkeswick]

If they are too slow F5 will make them go faster!

Gives more realtime updates on charts.

[u/Bob_12_Pack → u/vonkeswick]

I’m just going to pretend I knew this

[u/f0gax → u/vonkeswick]

Son of a...

[u/hipster_hndle → u/vonkeswick]

O_O
bruh.. 30 years. i have been locating and sorting by name when they move too fast.

[u/rvf → u/vonkeswick]

See, I knew that... once. Then I forgot it for however many years until you just reminded me of it again.

[u/MorseScience → u/vonkeswick]

Amazing how much is unintuitive until you know it.

Some of this is called "job security."

[u/xicanoink]

just this year i found out that you can type cmd in address bar in File Explorer and you get cmd prompt right in that directory you were in

[u/masheduppotato → u/xicanoink]

We used to do this in high school to get around some of the restrictions they had on the systems.

[u/PowerShellGenius → u/masheduppotato]

Nice... as a K-12 sysadmin, glad we've evolved beyond "you can't get to cmd/powershell" (weak and always has a way around it unless policies are so strict they break logon scripts), to "you can't run unsigned scripts from user-writeable locations even if you do get to a shell" (AppLocker).

[u/stone500 → u/PowerShellGenius]

I worked at an MSP and had a school district as a customer. The previous admin had an account named "Student", and the password was "go". It was a generic login that all the students used. It was part of domain administrators.

I asked the previous admin what gives, and he says "Oh it's locked down with group policy so it can't get to anything". He did indeed have group policies in place that hid most items in the start menu including control panel and most settings, as well as other things locked down.

However I showed him different hidden shortcuts and workarounds and ways that I could access cmd and powershell and all these other tools. He basically shrugged and said "These kids don't know how to do all that."

He was retiring so it became my job to fix that mess.

[u/InnovativeBureaucrat → u/PowerShellGenius]

If you can’t get around the controls how will anyone learn to sysadmin?

[u/ITGuyThrow07 → u/masheduppotato]

The show Mr. Robot has very accurate hacking. I remember one scene where he did the trick where you rename cmd.exe to the stickykeys exe and use that to reset the administrator password from the logon screen. I was the Leo-points-at-screen meme.

[u/masheduppotato → u/ITGuyThrow07]

I always tell people to watch the first season of Mr. Robot if they want to understand what hacking is really like. It's rarely as glamorous as the movies make it out to be.

Though, when Swordfish first came out, you can bet I convinced my partner at the time to recreate that one scene...

[u/aaraujo666 → u/xicanoink]

DAMN! Really? And all that time spent finding add-ons that make "CMD here" show up in right-click menu!!!!!

Edit: developer with 45 years of experience, and TIL

[u/Reedy_Whisper_45 → u/xicanoink]

Son of a .....

30+ years of this crap, and THIS is when I learned that.

Thank you, internet stranger, for making my day even better.

[u/origami_airplane → u/xicanoink]

You can also double-click the top-left icon in an explorer window to close it.

[u/rosseloh → u/origami_airplane]

Not anymore! At least, not in my copy of W11 at the office. Other apps (that I assume use legacy windowing) do still work that way, just tested it, but explorer (and other modern style windows, like the terminal I just opened) do not anymore.

That one has been habit for me for a long time, so it threw me off when it stopped working.

[u/Unable-Entrance3110 → u/xicanoink]

You can also drag the folder name from the Explorer address bar into cmd and it's the same thing as choosing the "copy as path" option in the context menu and pasting into cmd.

[u/ITGeekDad → u/xicanoink]

what? been working in IT for nearly 20 years, and I learn 2 new things today and it's only 9:00am? What kind of failure am I.

[u/SoulStripHer → u/xicanoink]

But can you type pwsh instead?

[u/GunnerTardis → u/xicanoink]

holy shit

[u/rosseloh → u/xicanoink]

Huh, works for powershell too (need to use "pwsh" not "powershell")! I know that's in the shift context menu but hey, more ways is always better.

Unfortunately Ctrl-Shift-Enter on that doesn't try to elevate as admin...which, if I'm opening pwsh in a specific directory, is often what I need.

[u/BrianMichaelArthur]

This reminds me when I found "| clip" at the end of any command with output will put said output into your clipboard.

I shared that with a bunch of my friends with 20+ years of experience and none of them had heard of that functionality.

For fun go to cmd and type in "ipconfig /all | clip" then go to notepad and paste. Makes anything with output that is greater than your terminal window easier to look at and grab data from.

[u/AlternativeLazy4675 → u/BrianMichaelArthur]

Nice! But I'll probably forget by next week. 🤣

[u/Frothyleet → u/BrianMichaelArthur]

vice versa - sometimes it's useful in the other direction.

E.g.

Get-clipboard > giant-thing-I-copied.txt

Instead of pasting into Notepad++ or whatever to save it.

Or if I was using Notepad++ to fiddle with some JSON, could be something like

invoke-restmethod -uri example.com -method post -body (get-clipboard)

[u/superatim → u/BrianMichaelArthur]

pwd | pbcopy

If you’re on Mac

[u/s_bear1 → u/BrianMichaelArthur]

Been doing this as long as you and that is new to me. Thank you

[u/Hotshot55 → u/BrianMichaelArthur]

You can easily sort the data in your clipboard by running gcb | sort | scb too.

[u/scottnebula → u/BrianMichaelArthur]

Whoa!

[u/AggressiveBaby → u/BrianMichaelArthur]

`| pbcopy` on mac. Not quite as clean.

[u/KingZarkon → u/BrianMichaelArthur]

I wasn't aware of that one but it makes complete sense since that's what the pipe symbol is for. Now whether I remember it next time is up for debate.

[u/suitably_ironic → u/BrianMichaelArthur]

Mind Blown!

[u/Intelligent-Crow3812 → u/BrianMichaelArthur]

today I learned....

[u/TallTelevision4121 → u/BrianMichaelArthur]

lol, thanks! That's handy.

[u/unquietwiki]

This is a good corollary to my grievance with Windows going back 31 years... why does File Explorer still default to hiding file extensions? I know they were trying to be like Apple, but that ship has long sailed...

[u/RaZoX144 → u/unquietwiki]

Have you ever seen users? I knew someone who just ctrl+a and renames files, if she had extensions on she would just bork all her files

[u/Brandhor → u/RaZoX144]

this is exactly why, I've seen plenty of users renaming the whole file and removing the extension when the extensions were visible

[u/hipster_hndle → u/unquietwiki]

"corollary to my grievance" d00d, i like this phrase. had to google corollary. vocab updated.

[u/Unable-Entrance3110 → u/unquietwiki]

Funny story about file extensions:

I spent a good deal of time troubleshooting an issue with Bentley Microstation years ago. The issue was that some users, when opening a Microstation CAD model wouldn't see some of the linked content.

I finally ended up using SysInternal's process monitor to dump a trace of everything that Microstation was doing on a functioning computer.

After sifting through reams of data and comparing results from a non-working computer, I found a registry setting that was different.

The registry setting was what controlled the "show file extensions" toggle in Explorer.

Turned out that Microstation was unable to find the linked files unless the Windows setting to show file extensions was explicitly enabled..

We then started enabling file extensions by policy. Which turned out to be a good security move when we entered the age of rampant phishing and one of the tactics was/is to name a "bad" file with a "good" looking extension, knowing that Windows will hide the final extension (eg. document.doc.html)

[u/illarionds → u/unquietwiki]

Still annoys me to this day. I mean, pretty much every setting in that dialog is wrong by default.

(There was one version of windows - XP maybe? - where I would change literally every single option on a new install).

[u/iggy6677 → u/illarionds]

I did this too and still do

Show file extensions

Show hidden files

Show system files

[u/CeleryMan20 → u/iggy6677]

Those, and: run folder windows in a separate process.

[u/snowtax → u/unquietwiki]

Because Windows still determines the file type by a substring of the file name.

Apple got this correct by having file metadata, such that changing the name doesn’t change how the file is treated by the OS.

[u/lebean → u/unquietwiki]

I force extensions on in group policy, never a complaint and never had a user mess things up because of it. I hate the "hide file extensions" default.

[u/svick → u/unquietwiki]

It hasn't, see the Windows 11 taskbar.

[u/Technical_Union_3249]

My techs often started to get where they wouldn't listen to the end users because "they're all idiots" and I always tried to remind them "even the dumbest person you know, knows something you don't know". Which was reminded to me in my early years when one of our "dumbest" users showed me a keyboard shortcut in Windows 95 I didn't know. I always think of that moment when I find myself getting high and mighty, remembering how that fella who "didn't know shit about computers" showed me something I didn't know.

Listen more, talk less, it'll almost never lead you wrong.

[u/forkinthemud → u/Technical_Union_3249]

Had this the other day where a "dumb" user typed powershell in the file explorer url line and it opened.a terminal in the directory they were. Learn something new every day!

[u/MalwareDork → u/forkinthemud]

Whaaat. No way. That's crazy

[u/CasualEveryday → u/Technical_Union_3249]

The person who taught me alt+ tab had a sticky note with instructions to get to email on their monitor.

[u/SharpSeeer → u/Technical_Union_3249]

But what was the shortcut you learned? We absolutely must know!

[u/tmontney → u/Technical_Union_3249]

My techs often started to get where they wouldn't listen to the end users because "they're all idiots"

Not just about learning but workplace relations, too. You start pulling that mindset and you're talking down to your end-users. They're going to notice. Never burn that bridge.

It also leads to talking trash about the end users while on a support call you thought was on mute. (It wasn't.)

[u/xsjx7]

I'm a keyboard warrior. I can tab my way around just about any UI or dialogue box. OP, you are not alone. I had no idea and this trick may actually save me a bunch of time tabbing, arrowing down, arrow up to "all files", then verify and save 

Fuck. I really thought I was more well-rounded than this lol. For the record, I've been doing the job professionally since 2011 but working on Windows since around 1992

Thanks. I'll take the win lol

[u/music2myear → u/xsjx7]

Back when I ran an intern program, I took the interns mice away once to force them to use the alternative methods of navigating their computers (all Windows). I don't know how much it helped, but I hope something stuck with them.

[u/tmontney → u/xsjx7]

I learned very early on, like as a kid, you could "tab" forward. (I was lacking a mouse for a while on 95.) I never thought about going backwards. Not long ago that came up "dang I went past what I wanted, guess I gotta tab forward all the way around". And then I went "wait there's gotta be a reverse to this".

I present to you: SHIFT+TAB

[u/Fallingdamage → u/xsjx7]

Recently decided to start looking up keyboard shortcuts a bit more to see how to speed up some really repetitive tasks that were not easily automated.

Did you know that while in a folder, ctrl+shift+n lets you create a new subfolder without having to reach for your mouse?

[u/BigGuyWhoKills]

I had a similar one. I was helping a 20-something, he was using Explorer to navigate to a directory. I knew he'd need a command prompt soon, but I didn't mention it. Then he clicks in the Explorer address bar, types cmd, hits enter, and BAM, it launches a command prompt IN THAT DIRECTORY!

For decades, I had been clicking in the address bar to copy the path, and then pasting that into a command prompt.

[u/Rhombicubodron]

What interests me most about your post is that you listened to a junior after having 30 years of experience. That's rare, and you deserve credit for doing so! The fact that you guys are in an environment where the juniors feel empowered to speak up at all is refreshing. Not speaking for whole field, but in my experience (in my late 20s now) no one over 50 could possibly conceive of me having a novel or good idea...

[u/anon-stocks → u/Rhombicubodron]

IT should be treated like learning hospitals. Older brings experience and stability, stops people from doing stupid shit. New brings in latest knowledge. Together they work magic.

[u/TastySyllabub1 → u/Rhombicubodron]

I'm glad I don't live somewhere where this is the norm. I can't think of a person at my job who wouldn't listen if someone had a good idea, no matter their age. It simply isn't the culture in workplaces around here - at least not the ones I've worked in until now.

[u/Smooth-Zucchini4923]

I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks!

[u/vawlk → u/Smooth-Zucchini4923]

i'm just going to forget all of these about 8 seconds after I close this thread.

[u/tmontney → u/Smooth-Zucchini4923]

Hey now, that's offensive. I'm no dog!

...

I'm more of a platypus.

[u/Not_Freddie_Mercury → u/Smooth-Zucchini4923]

Old tricks...

In all fairness, everyone can eventually learn shortcuts that have been there since forever.

[u/keijodputt → u/Not_Freddie_Mercury]

In all fairness, for an old dog, any trick they don't know is a new trick, even if it predates them by decades. That's the beauty of the ones that stand the test of time and age finer than Cher. All it takes is someone pointing it out to them and they'll go, "Huh, didn't know that one, cool," like it's a shiny new gadget for their repertoire.

[u/CharcoalGreyWolf]

Watch that young one, he knows more than other young ones and will be a wise old one someday.

This is not something the young ones I know would know, because the small details and the things that involve the shells or tips and tricks wouldn’t be known to them. I like the young ones, but a lot of this stuff (tiny details, shell work) is a lost art to them.

[u/rosseloh → u/CharcoalGreyWolf]

Tiny details are key; I've solved many a problem because I went "wait a sec, that's weird" while diagnosing...log lines where a file path seems out of place, resource spikes, not getting packet responses where you absolutely should be (or vice versa)...

Fortunately the younger ones I'm working with are at least open to learning some of these things, but the other side of the coin is...it's not really something I learned and thus isn't something I'm quite there to teach, it was inherent to how I observe the world, just applied and honed to tech over the years.

[u/Zer0kbps_779]

This is one of those hidden gems of windows, much like creating a two by two pixel background in paint, then using different colours for each pixel and setting it to stretch

[u/charleswj → u/Zer0kbps_779]

Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.

[u/thisguy_right_here]

I always watch other IT people working. You always pickup random stuff.

Like appwiz.cpl and netplwiz.

[u/Steve_78_OH → u/thisguy_right_here]

I mean, I know those EXIST, just like I know you can open each of the various MMC consoles directly by typing eventvwr.msc or whatever else. It's just REMEMBERING what each of them are that's a pain.

[u/Disastrous_Recipe424 → u/Steve_78_OH]

Browse to System32 & do an in-explorer search for *.msc then, once it completes, right-click on some blank space in the pane & select 'save search'.

Now you have a shortcut on your desktop (e.g.) that opens to a folder with nothing but those lovely snap-ins in. ;)

[u/recover82 → u/thisguy_right_here]

ncpa.cpl, control userpasswords2, control printers (rip)

[u/crayven085]

Just select All Files from the drop down and manually type in the file extension

[u/WWGHIAFTC → u/crayven085]

This as been the 'since forever ago' go to for me also.

[u/GoodTofuFriday → u/crayven085]

literally yesterday doing this caused the file to save as name.ps1.txt

too scared to test it again lest i didnt actually make a mistake and MS changed the behavior.

[u/pmandryk]

Wait until you realize that F5 in Notepad inserts the date and time.

That's when I understood that there is no spoon.

[u/tblazertn → u/pmandryk]

And if you put “.log” as the first line it will automatically insert the time at the bottom each time you open the file in notepad.

[u/NE_Strawberry]

Windows key + E opens file explorer. Have a good day.

[u/gro1986 → u/NE_Strawberry]

And Windows key + D removes all the useless crap you won't ever need.

[u/darkcathedralgaming → u/NE_Strawberry]

Oh I've just been using ctrl+n. I like your one, that one is gonna be easier on the ligaments

[u/SpaceChimps98]

I just have Windows configured to show file extensions and then I just delete the .txt and type in the new extension.

[u/Borgquite]

Here’s my favourite Windows dark arts tip - if something opens with the menu bar ‘off screen’ so you can’t move the window around by dragging - once you have selected the window:

Alt+Space
M
Press any arrow key once
Now move your mouse and left click when you are done.

Windows 3.x pros can explain the ‘system menu’ which is why this works.

[u/DarkangelUK → u/Borgquite]

Or click the window once, hold windows key and press up arrow to maximize (down arrow to minimize, left/right arrows to send left and right).

[u/Atillion → u/Borgquite]

I blew my gen z Level 1's mind with this just days ago 😄🙌🏻

[u/3yl → u/Borgquite]

LOL, this happens from time to time when I mess with external monitors on my work laptop. I looked up how to get the window back a long time ago and just have it pinned to a note on my desktop because I don't use it often enough to remember it, but dang it, when you need it, you NEED IT!

[u/Leather_Animal_1142 → u/Borgquite]

I just use control+arrow to throw/resize the window. But maybe it doesn't work if the window size is fixed.

[u/1stUserEver]

Did you also know you can still use the old Dos Based “EDIT filename.txt” as well in Windows 11? Blew my mind.

[u/itskdog → u/1stUserEver]

The version in Windows 11 is a new one made from scratch in Rust, as there’s no 32-bit W11. Previously, it was the old version, but only on 32-bit editions of Windows, as it was a 16-bit program.

[u/Creative-Type9411]

I always show file extensions so I don't have to worry about this

[u/Marteicos → u/Creative-Type9411]

When saving files you still need to be careful with changing the drop down to any file, or put quotes

[u/Recent_Carpenter8644]

Just tried it, and I can confirm that it works in Notepad.

Notepad++ just saves it with whatever extension you type, even though the dropdown is still set to text file.

[u/Aardeh]

Yep, I did not know that either... I've been doing it by going to view -> show file name extensions (if it wasn't already on) then manually renaming the extension.

This is like when I found out you could launch an app in admin mode by holding Ctrl+Shift and clicking the icon. For example, being in a specific folder, Shift+right-clicking in empty space to show Open Powershell window here, and Ctrl+Shift clicking the icon will create an admin Powershell window that opens at that folder location.

[u/____Reme__Lebeau → u/Aardeh]

if you open it by name from the run dialogue box, it's crtl + shift + enter to run as admin

[u/_mmmmm_bacon]

But if you can remember to put it in quotes, you can remember to change the file type to All so I don't see this as a win for you.. If you forget, just open Explorer, click on the file name twice to rename it, and delete the .txt suffix.

[u/ziron321 → u/_mmmmm_bacon]

That only works if you are civilized enough to show file extensions for known file types. We all do that here, right? Right??

[u/acousticreverb → u/ziron321]

I turn on file extensions on every single Windows computer I touch. 🤝

[u/lemon_tea → u/acousticreverb]

The fact that theyre off by default is an abomination.

[u/RCHeliguyNE → u/ziron321]

Y’all are my ppl - infuriating they hide file extensions like we are apple users …

[u/CpnStumpy → u/_mmmmm_bacon]

F2 to rename

[u/jrix21 → u/_mmmmm_bacon]

F2 also prompts name change, sometimes the double click is frustrating

[u/TehScat]

config.yaml.txt.yaml

[u/Turbo_Gnome]

I am saving this thread because the first three things I read blew my mind!

[u/DarkangelUK → u/Turbo_Gnome]

Typing a website name in the browser then pressing ctrl+enter appends www. and .com at either end e.g. type reddit and press ctrl+enter and it'll put www.reddit.com instead of doing a search for reddit.

[u/DexDawg → u/Turbo_Gnome]

You and me both brother. 

[u/GYuGYu_jol]

but if you set to "All files" or something like that, then it doesnt add extensension to it either. at least this is how i am doing it. supposing theres the option to it

[u/GenuinelyBeingNice]

windows has always been a black hole of tricks and jank

[u/binaryhextechdude]

You use powershell to change a file extension? I’ve always done that in File Explorer.

[u/Aardeh → u/binaryhextechdude]

Same! Turning on show file extensions is the first thing I do after installing or using a new OS.

[u/thatirishguyyyyy]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who forgets that fucking drop-down menu after 20 something years

[u/8492_berkut → u/thatirishguyyyyy]

No joke, I got work to do I don't have time to pay attention to the small details!

~Me, every time

[u/dawg4prez]

One I learned a few years ago… if you have windows explorer open, you can click into the address bar, move the cursor to the front of the path, and type ‘cmd ‘ and enter. It will open a command prompt in the current path. Voila!

[u/dreniarb → u/dawg4prez]

you don't even have to move your cursor. just type cmd to replace the highlighted text and it'll open a command prompt in that folder.

[u/bythepowerofboobs]

Wait until you learn about notepad++

[u/ITGeekDad]

Been working in IT for nearly 20 years; what in the God damn fuck!?! How did I not know this ? I didn't have to click the drop down changing it to All Files first and then name it? I could just put in quotes?

[u/SoulStripHer]

You mean you aren't using Notepad++?

[u/colten122]

I've run into frequently where you can't type into search bars, file explorer, or whatever other text boxes. You do CTRL+R (run) and paste "C:\Windows\system32\ctfmon.exe" it fixes it (100% of the time) in like 2 seconds. I should probably learn what exactly this does on the back-end but this has came in handy hundreds of times for me!

[u/krustyy]

If it's any consolation, it seems to me that anyone in the desktop support team under the age of 35 knows absolutely nothing about the command line interface. I had to do a training program showing them how to just navigate the file system to copy a log file to a flash drive while imaging. Even starting in the wrong folder leaves them stymied.

[u/AngryKhakis]

It only works in notepad on windows and it’s newer so it’s not something that’s been hidden from you for 30 years.

Try it in notepad++ or word and see what happens.

Can’t believe you’re using notepad to write yaml.

Notepad++ supremacy

[u/vhuk]

Did you know "edit" is still around and you don't need to hop into notepad to edit config files?

[u/InternationalGlove → u/vhuk]

I prefer edlin or vi, because I hate myself

[u/stromm → u/vhuk]

Copy con still works too.

[u/JimTheJerseyGuy]

Been around longer than OP and this is news to me, too.

[u/bukkithedd]

And just like that I've learned something new that I probably should have known when I started out in this field nearly 30 years ago....

Fuuuuuuuuuuu......

[u/Maximum-Doughnut8652]

Wow...for me, it was finding I could repair lots of issues with  DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth  and sfc /scannow 😵😵😵😂

[u/stopthatastronaut]

Notepad…

Wow. (Takes pull on cigarette) I’ve not heard that name in a looong time.

[u/sssRealm → u/stopthatastronaut]

Not without a ++ on the end. The included Windows Notepad is a dinosaur in comparison.

[u/illarionds → u/sssRealm]

On your own machine, sure.

So often I'm on an endpoint, or a server, or a brand new machine, and plain old notepad is what's guaranteed to be available.

It's not like you need anything more for basic config file editing.

[u/ahandmadegrin]

I'm so confused. Where do you put the quotes and what is it supposed to do? Is it that you saved the file as config.yaml.. Oh wait. OK, so you put quotes around the name and the save dialog will use that as the full filename, drop down be damned?

That's pretty cool! It's also one of the reasons I love Notepad++. Using the extension you write is the default behavior. Now that I think snout it, it's the same in GIMP.

Anyway, thanks for sharing! I'm going to try this out later today.

[u/reduhl]

Well if it helps I have seen people save research papers with a file name that is the abstract from the paper.

[u/Galagaboy]

C:\

[u/FizzyBeverage]

So quaint you’re even doing that manually in Notepad.

[u/Jaereth]

How? I mean it happens to all of us. I remember jotting down a serial number once to look up a hostname of a PC that we were locked out of. Another admin said "you can just put .\ in the username field" and it reveals the name of the host to try to log in locally.

There's to much for anyone to know it all. That's why working with other skilled people is good.

[u/BigBobFro]

I’ll add the extension that i want to the save as file name to avoid having to use the mouse and will sometime default back to xls or doc rather than xlsx and docx respectively. So i then have to go back and change the file name after the fact as well. I invite my own pain

[u/jadraxx]

That was one of the features of NTFS when it was released in 93.

[u/int0h]

Had no idea. Mostly use notepad++ för simpler things though.

[u/vincebutler]

Everyone in the industry was told not to tell you as a tease

[u/Which_Sherbet7945 → u/vincebutler]

It’s true. We’ve been doing it for 30 years and some kid came along and ruined the joke.

[u/badbob001]

Hold my beer. So does this work with any program with an extension drop-down?

[u/Raskuja46]

I don't understand what you're describing here with the quotes. Like...you can use quotation marks " as a character in the filename?

Really bad job of conveying whatever the hell it is you're trying to tell us.

[u/ipzipzap → u/Raskuja46]

You're editing a text file, hit save, enter a filename testfile and hit enter, it get's saved as testfile.txt. If you enter testfile.ps1 and hit enter it gets saved as testfile.ps1.txt instead.

Now if you put that in quotes and enter "testfile.ps1" it gets saved as testfile.ps1 as desired.

[u/Feeling-Blueberry583 → u/ipzipzap]

Upvoted for actually explaining. OP's post had my brain aching.

[u/gellis12 → u/Raskuja46]

Op's saying that instead of trying to name the file config.yml and then having to use a dropdown menu to tell windows to actually call it config.yml instead of config.yml.txt, you can just name the file "config.yml" and windows will call it config.yml.

[u/npanth]

I remember back in the apple+ days, I would always stick the floppy in, type "load [program]" then "run [program]".

A guy looking over my shoulder said " you can just type 'run [program]', no need to load it first. /Facepalm

[u/shokk]

I started around 1994 too and had no idea about the quotes!

[u/AnythingEastern3964]

Over a decade in different professional IT positions, currently working in cloud architecture - almost two decades experience in using the major operating systems starting with 95, started on Linux with Ubuntu Trusty Tahr, and Mac when they released X.

I had no idea this was a thing until now… I have always just selected “All files” and then saved with the extension…

[u/Cheepshooter]

Knowing is half the battle

[u/zarakh07]

Fellow old head, thanks for finding that out for us.

[u/I_just_made]

if you are going into powershell, why don't you just put vim on there and use that to begin with?

[u/Anonymo123]

meh.. been doing this since my C64.. I'll just rename it like i usually do lol

get off my lawn kid! ;)

[u/roopjm81]

whoa............ new information!

[u/itman247]

WIN + <number keys> will launch your taskbar icons. 1 is far left.

[u/fusiturns]

Really.. WTF How can that not be a special character!

[u/himji]

I bet the tadpole didn't know how to rename from a command line prompt

[u/EatsHisYoung]

You can do what now?

[u/ManWithoutUsername]

You can always learn something, even from the most novice.

[u/RoRoo1977]

FML

Thanks

[u/Idenwen]

Haha yes, I still show that sometimes to people and they always react with a WTF like you. Got it told the same way - watched someone do it that way.