disable multiple windows of photo viewer

Rocketman122

Member
Jul 22, 2013
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newly installed W7 first time. every time I click a photo it keeps opening it in a new photo viewer browser.

Xp only did one . any way to disable it? I only want it to open it in one photo viewer
 

HOSED

Senior member
Dec 30, 2013
658
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One option is to use a 3rd party photo viewer. You can also use windows media center if you do not want to install anything. If you wish to set up a shortcut for it set the target: %windir%\ehome\ehshell.exe
 
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code65536

Golden Member
Mar 7, 2006
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No, you can't.

The technical reason for this change is that the Photo Viewer is implemented as COM. In XP, it ran within the Explorer process that opened the photo. But in 7, it was bumped out of the Explorer process and into a separate dllhost process (so if there is a crash in the PV, it wouldn't hose Explorer). One side effect of them no longer being hosted by a common process is that each instance of PV is no longer aware of other instances, so they no longer consolidate.

So this change in behavior is the result of a technical change in the implementation of PV, not the result of a new default option, which is why there is no way to change it.

(Also, in XP, you'll notice that the PVs launched from two separate, distinct Explorer processes won't consolidate.)
 

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
19,404
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Picasa comes with a photo viewer.
XnView doubles up as a photo viewer and image browsing program.
 

Rocketman122

Member
Jul 22, 2013
175
3
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I do have acdsee which I can use. I just like the bottom buttons for rotating the images. I dont have to press SAVE everytime. crap this sucks. im not upgrading for MANY MANY years. what a mistake. basically from what I see, I dont see any improvement from xp. I dont see any worhtwhile feature with W7 and all the shiny ness and hiding every feature under another menu is just a waste of time for me. tons of button clicking. in xp when I went to the CP I had all the settings there. I didnt have to press tons of buttons to do anything.

add to this the pixelated pictures when I zoom in. with xp, I could zoom in all I wanted and the picture would become blurry not pixelated.

Now I can understand why the vast majority of the world stayed with XP till recently. from what I see W7 doesnt offer anything the crazy price warrants and there is nothing more that I would benefit over XP. I did install XP and with older hardware and if I could make an SSD work easily with XP I would. crap so disappointing. such an overrated OS. whats the fuss all about, I dont know.

its going to be a long time till I go to another OS. at least another 10 years.
 
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code65536

Golden Member
Mar 7, 2006
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Might I suggest you try Windows 8? I was a long-time XP holdout because I thought Vista and 7 dumbed things down too much for the power user, and I upgraded to 7 only because of support for newer hardware.

What got me to finally abandon XP was Windows 8, which I do strongly recommend. Yes, there's Metro and the Start Screen, and people who scream and fuss about that, which is unfortunate because Windows 8 also made tons of improvements on the desktop side of things. So if you can look past Metro, Windows 8/8.1 is a lot more power-user-friendly than 7. There are many, many improvements to File Explorer and the Power User menu is awesome. As a power user, I can't stand Windows 7 now that I've gotten used to 8. Yes, 7 is overrated. And 8 is tragically overlooked.

It won't "fix" the Photo Viewer behavior, though (actually, I really like that it's instanced now). But, overall, I think for 8.1 is a better upgrade path for XP than 7 is.
 
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mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
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OP you appear to be slamming Win7 because the photo viewer doesn't work the way you want it to, and that MS moved a few options. Btw, you can enable the classic Windows Explorer menu that you're used to in XP. (Organise > Folder and Search options > View > 'Always show menus' - I think is what you want).

If so, I would be very surprised if you didn't dislike Win8 even more so, because Windows/File Explorer is extremely different to previous versions (and without the customisability that Win7 has).

I think if you want every OS version you ever use to work and look exactly the same as the version you like, you're in for some disappointment. Unless you want to give up the GUI altogether and use a terminal. While I'm also a fan of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", what you're asking for simply isn't realistic.

Do you just want to rant or are you asking for help?

Be nice...
-ViRGE
 
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Rocketman122

Member
Jul 22, 2013
175
3
81
Might I suggest you try Windows 8? I was a long-time XP holdout because I thought Vista and 7 dumbed things down too much for the power user, and I upgraded to 7 only because of support for newer hardware.

What got me to finally abandon XP was Windows 8, which I do strongly recommend. Yes, there's Metro and the Start Screen, and people who scream and fuss about that, which is unfortunate because Windows 8 also made tons of improvements on the desktop side of things. So if you can look past Metro, Windows 8/8.1 is a lot more power-user-friendly than 7. There are many, many improvements to File Explorer and the Power User menu is awesome. As a power user, I can't stand Windows 7 now that I've gotten used to 8. Yes, 7 is overrated. And 8 is tragically overlooked.

It won't "fix" the Photo Viewer behavior, though (actually, I really like that it's instanced now). But, overall, I think for 8.1 is a better upgrade path for XP than 7 is.

There are many that like Windows 8, but Its a radical design from what im used to. I dont like heavy change. im not borning, just need stability in my life with everything. a new OS like 8 would be hard for me to adapt to. it looks nice and im very open minded but its too drastic over XP.

right now. Im not going anywhere. Im trying to make W7 work only for the SSD sake. nothing else. I want the speed it gives. otherwise I would never move. xp gives me everything I need. a familiar environment. I dont ever download updates. I dont really care about those. there wont be a shortage of website offering updates should I need one. ive gotten by till now wihtout them and I will run it on my other computer.

OP you appear to be slamming Win7 because the photo viewer doesn't work the way you want it to, and that MS moved a few options. Btw, you can enable the classic Windows Explorer menu that you're used to in XP. (Organise > Folder and Search options > View > 'Always show menus' - I think is what you want).

If so, I would be very surprised if you didn't dislike Win8 even more so, because Windows/File Explorer is extremely different to previous versions (and without the customisability that Win7 has).

I think if you want every OS version you ever use to work and look exactly the same as the version you like, you're in for some disappointment. Unless you want to give up the GUI altogether and use a terminal. While I'm also a fan of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", what you're asking for simply isn't realistic.

Do you just want to rant or are you asking for help?

Be nice...
-ViRGE

yea, I hate change. it gives me unrest. It slows my work down and I have to learn how to configure things. had I know this issue with the photo viewer was there, I would not upgrade and just run 2 regular HDD in raid for my speed.

what was the tweak you recommended supposed to do? I did it and didnt pay attention so didnt notice before and after and since im new to 7 the whole environment is new. not sarcastic, I really dont know.

btw, when I select all the picture in a folder, why doesnt it show me stats? like how big they are in total? it says 658 picture and under it says "show more details" and when I click it, it goes away and it doesnt show me anything else besides 658 pictures.

is it possible to lock that bottom strip/taskbar in the folder? because sometimes when Im selecting with the mouse, I wind up pulling on it and resizing it.

ok rants over. so basically a little rant and mostly want help haha. thank you all for your time.
 

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
19,404
12,919
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The tweak I suggested puts the XP-style Windows Explorer menu back just below the address bar.

Yeah, I find it irritating that the multiple file selection information is less than it used to be. Sometimes it shows the total file space used by the files (I tried it just now on a group of videos and it showed the total number of files and space used by them), sometimes it shows less information.

You can also set the old style status bar to be visible as well, but it doesn't work the same as it used to, so I've stuck with the newer one.

I don't know of a way to lock its position sorry, but I haven't had the problem with it you described.
 

code65536

Golden Member
Mar 7, 2006
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The tweak I suggested puts the XP-style Windows Explorer menu back just below the address bar.
The ribbon in 8's Explorer (minimized by default) is sooooo much better than 7's toolbar or XP's menu. It's basically the convenience of the toolbar with the usefulness of menu. Practically everything in 8 requires fewer steps/clicks.

Yeah, I find it irritating that the multiple file selection information is less than it used to be. Sometimes it shows the total file space used by the files (I tried it just now on a group of videos and it showed the total number of files and space used by them), sometimes it shows less information.

You can also set the old style status bar to be visible as well, but it doesn't work the same as it used to, so I've stuck with the newer one.
This wouldn't be a problem in 8, which sees the return of the status bar. :whiste:

I don't know of a way to lock its position sorry, but I haven't had the problem with it you described.
This pane is now hidden by default in 8 (thanks to the status bar), but I've re-enabled it and moved it to the side (which is a new option) so that it makes good use of the abundant horizontal pixels of modern widescreen displays and so that it can display far more (and more useful) information than that cramped pane on the bottom. Oh, and did I mention that the status bar is back? :D

Seriously, I wasn't kidding about my 8 recommendation. On the outside, it might seem like a radical change, but if you are a desktop power user, it is, in many ways, closer to XP than 7 is.