Unhiding extensions normally hidden even
when your settings are "Show all extensions":

1. A typical desktop before changes.
[Screenshot: desktop before changes.]

2. A typical Start > Programs menu before changes.
[Screenshot: menu before changes.]

Start Regedit: [Instructions for starting Regedit if you don't know how.]

3. You're in Regedit. Click Edit > Find
[Screenshot: .]

4. Type "NeverShowExt" (without the quotes) in the Find dialogue box and press Enter.
[Screenshot: .]

(Skipping a lot of repetitions, do the same thing for all entries found as shown here for lnkfile and piffile.)

5. "Searching"
[Screenshot: .]

6. Entry found, lnkfile.
[Screenshot: .]

7. Click Edit > Rename
[Screenshot: .]

8. NeverShowExt highlighted for renaming.
[Screenshot: .]

9. Press the left-arrow key to get to the 'r' in "Never", use the Backspace key to delete the "Never" and type "Always" as a replacement.
[Screenshot: .]

10. Press Enter and AlwaysShowExt is now the current value.
[Screenshot: .]

11. Click on Edit > Find Next.
[Screenshot: .]

12. Entry found, piffile.
[Screenshot: .]

13. NeverShowExt changed to AlwaysShowExt the same way as above.
[Screenshot: .]

Repeat steps 11, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, ... , until ...

14. ... the search fails. Exit Regedit.
[Screenshot: .]

15. Desktop doesn't appear to be changed. Oh, wait! This is Windows we are talking about. You have to reboot for the silliest reasons at times. This is one of them.
[Screenshot: .]

16. After rebooting, ".pif" and ".lnk" show up in the applicable desktop shortcuts ...
[Screenshot: .]

17. ... and in the Start > Programs menu ...
[Screenshot: .]

18. ... and even in the sub menus.
[Screenshot: .]

Starting Regedit:

To start Regedit (these screen shots were taken later):

2a. START > Run
[Screenshot: Start > Run selected.]

2b. The Run dialogue box. If regedit isn't current, click Browse.
[Screenshot: .]

2c. Browse dialogue. If you are not in the Windows directory then click on the file folder with the arrow going to the left and then turning at a right angle to go up ...
[Screenshot: .]

2d. ... until you get to the root directory, (C:). Then scroll to the right if necessary ...
[Screenshot: .]

2e. ... to get to the Windows directory entry and then ...
[Screenshot: .]

2f. ... double-click on it to get to it.
[Screenshot: .]

2g. Scroll to the right until you find Regedit.
[Screenshot: .]

2h. Double-click on it to enter it into the Run dialogue box.
[Screenshot: .]

2i. Click on "OK" and you're in Regedit.
[Screenshot: .]