74. Alternate Data Streams

• Alternate data streams (ADS) allow more than one data stream to be associated with a filename

• The filename format is

      filename:streamname
  

  For example,

      "text.txt:extrastream"
  

  Alternate streams are not listed in Windows Explorer

• The size of data in alternate streams is not included in the file's size.

• Only the main stream of a file is preserved when it is copied to a FAT-formatted USB drive, attached to an e-mail, or uploaded to a website.

• As a result, using alternate streams for critical data may cause problems.