Why can't I rename/modify photos/pictures on my PC?

Just a guess but are you possibly changing the file extension?

So it’s called zom.jpg and you’re changing it to badass_zombie_chick319 but forgetting the .jpg?

It’s extra goofy because sometimes it can be set to show the file extensions, and sometimes it’s not, on the same computer.

The error message you’re getting is probably the best guide if that doesn’t sound right.

@funkdaddy For those of us who are clueless about computer reralted info, what is the distinguishing feature of an error message?

@flo – sorry, I guess “warning” would be more accurate here.

But “error message” would generally be used for anything that the computer spits back at you with a purpose other than “everything is great, I did what you asked”.

So it might be “I wasn’t able to do what you asked, and here’s why” or “I tried to do what you asked, and I’m not sure why it didn’t work” or “Are you sure you want to do that, because it might cause other problems?”.

In real use the messages tend to be much more cryptic and sometimes include an “error code” or number to try and narrow things down. Computer error messages are notoriously difficult and vaguely worded.

It could be presented as a popup that you have to click to close (which is common with Windows) or just a line in whatever dialog you’re using for typed commands.

This whole description may be too general. In this case I was just referring to the line in @Symbeline‘s question

a box appears saying that modifying this may make it unusable

The box would be the error message. She paraphrased what it says here, the other details provided might provide some clues as to what’s going wrong if she doesn’t already have it figured out.

Cool?

@funkdaddy I wish I could have asked the question without giving the impression that I am trying to correct. No way am I trying to correct you. I still do not understand the difference between an error mesaage and a non-error message. Trust me it is not your expalnation. I have my strengths and this kind of thing is not one of them.

@flo – definitely no offense taken and I didn’t think you were correcting. We’re good.

I guess short answer would be

- Error messages let you know what you were trying to do didn’t work, and hopefully why
– So non-error messages would just let you know everything went fine

Maybe someone else will take a shot too.

Yeah, the error message really isn’t an error message, sorry bout that. It’s a box that tells me that renaming the file will make it unusable, then you either click on yes or no when asked if you’re really sure you wanna do this. It doesn’t give me any other option or explain why this would corrupt the image. Haven’t looked into it since I asked this, but I’m not changing the extension, as far as I know. Just click twice on it (slowly) and this box appears. :/

This is exactly why I have problems with computers @funkdaddy, as you say, everything is so vague, cryptic and never explained. This is probably something so damn simple, too.

Thank you both so much. I feel better.