Windows Picture and Fax Viewer is one of the goodies that comes pre-installed with Windows XP. We, the folks at DailyGyan, simply love this piece of software. Why, you ask? Well that’s because of its dead simple interface, absolute zero learning curve that’s required and finally because of such a sweet and ‘creative’ name that Microsoft managed to give it.
Well, in today’s Daily Feature, we give you some ways to super-charge your Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. Read along.
- Create a shortcut to windows picture and fax viewer.
If you want to have a shortcut for the Picture and Fax Viewer, just like you have for other programs in your start menu or desktop, here is what you should do:
- Right click on the folder you want to place the shortcut and select New –> Shortcut.
- Type in
rundll32.exe %SystemRoot%\system32\shimgvw.dll,ImageView_Fullscreenand hit enter. - Type in ‘Windows Picture and Fax Viewer’ as the name of the shortcut.
- Right click the new shortcut and select Properties.
- Click on ‘Change Icon'. Type in
%SystemRoot%\system32\shimgvw.dlland hit enter. - Select a suitable icon.
- Change the slide show duration in Picture and Fax viewer.
You can have a slide show of all photos in a folder by opening any one of the photos and then clicking the 'start slide show' button (shortcut - F11). By default, the duration between changing the pictures is 5 seconds. Unfortunately, this utility doesn't expose any settings, by which the user can change this value of 5 seconds. This will require some tampering with the Windows Registry and for the faint of heart, we have also provided a utility which does this automatically for you.
- In the Run dialog (Start -> Run), type
regeditand hit enter. - Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ShellImageView
- Create a new DWORD (Right click and select New DWORD) with name as
Timeout - Double click on this newly created DWORD and give a value you desire for the slide show duration as a millisecond value. For example, if you want a duration of 6 seconds between each photos, enter 6000 as the value (Remember to select base as Decimal).
Those who wishes to have a more simple and straight forward solution can download this little vbs script. On double clicking, it asks for the timeout seconds desired. Enter this value in the text box and hit enter. (Note: you need to enter the value in seconds and not milliseconds).
- In the Run dialog (Start -> Run), type
-
Convert Picture and Fax Viewer into an Image Editor.
One of the fields where our beloved tool fall behind is image editing. It does image displaying in a pretty much smart way but fumbles at the slightest request to edit some photos. Of course, you can rotate the image in what ever direction you want, but that's it. There is nothing more to be expected of it.
Well, that is not the case anymore. With a freeware called Photo Toolkit, you can extend the capabilities of Windows Picture and Fax Viewer to make it your dream photo editor. You can get the features list here and download it here.
What other tips and tricks have you found about Windows Picture and Fax Viewer? Share with us in the comments.
I stumbled upon this blog. Nice one. I have bookmarked and will visit often.
Cheers
Thanks Manoj :)
Thanks Mr. Engineer! for the tip about "Photo Toolkit". Keep up the good work!
That's gr8 news...
I always wanted more from "The Viewer". I usually use ACDSee, even if it is heavy.
One thing I like about it is the simplicity of rotating images (it degrades quality, though).
My Windows & Fax Viewer won't advance to the next picture, either manually or in slideshow. It shows the same pic over and over. Any suggestions?
You can quickly change the slideshow interval in TweakUI (for XP at least) which is a free Windows download from Microsoft.
Great help, thanks very much!
My TweakUI can only set the Thunbnail Size and Image Quality for picture files. ???
: Change default editor from Picture and Fax viewer (WXP-Pro)
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rjkrash06-21-2003, 12:57 PM
If, as I do, you use the Windows Picture and Fax viewer to preview images and use a more sophisticated image editor than MSPAINT. Perhaps you would like to have the option of launching your favorite image editor on the image from the Preview/Viewer. (there is an icon for this in the control panel of the viewer or Ctrl+E which by default launches MSPAINT) Here is a tweak to change the default editor:
Open your registry and find the key :
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\image\she ll\edit\command]
Modify the (Default) value to the full path of your favorite editor.
Note: The string of the path name should INCLUDE the quotes and the %1 argument. For example:
"C:\Program Files\Jasc Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro 8\Paint Shop Pro.exe" "%1"
The default entry for this value is:
"%systemroot%\system32\mspaint.exe" "%1"
Your post is really informative for me. I liked it very much.
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