Icon change on photo files

G

Guest

Greetings to all

I use Photoshop CS on different laptops as well as Photoshop Elements. In
list form all photos have the rather bland icon that indicates that the
picture, if selected, will open in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. This also
means that the photo, if sent by email, will carry the same icon, and will
readily be capable of being opened by any email recipient.

Recently, however, I put Paintshop Pro on one machine with the result that
every icon on every photo file in my system -- and there are many!-- turned
into a Paintshop Pro icon. I realise it is possible to open such files by
selecting for WPFV to be the application to open the individual photograph,
but this may not be easy to use for any email recipient, and it is
inconvenient for me to have to make this specific choice on every occasion I
seek to view a photo. I encountered a similar problem when loading CorelDraw
(which includes Corel PhotoPaint).

My question is obvious. How can I load a photo editing program without it
succeeding in altering all the relevant icons on all my existing photo files.

For the record, one machine is XP Pro, the other XP Home, both are SP2.

If anyone has come across this small but annoying problem and has any ideas
on how to avaoid it, I should be happy to hear from you.
 
M

Mike Williams

Tonyo said:
Greetings to all

I use Photoshop CS on different laptops as well as Photoshop Elements. In
list form all photos have the rather bland icon that indicates that the
picture, if selected, will open in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. This also
means that the photo, if sent by email, will carry the same icon, and will
readily be capable of being opened by any email recipient.

The icon simply indicates the file association on YOUR machine, and does
not transfer to another machine.

Recently, however, I put Paintshop Pro on one machine with the result that
every icon on every photo file in my system -- and there are many!-- turned
into a Paintshop Pro icon.


Probably because you skipped through the section to control which file
types PSP handles automatically. You can undo this at any time.

I realise it is possible to open such files by
selecting for WPFV to be the application to open the individual photograph,
but this may not be easy to use for any email recipient, and it is
inconvenient for me to have to make this specific choice on every occasion I
seek to view a photo. I encountered a similar problem when loading CorelDraw
(which includes Corel PhotoPaint).

My question is obvious. How can I load a photo editing program without it
succeeding in altering all the relevant icons on all my existing photo files.

For the record, one machine is XP Pro, the other XP Home, both are SP2.

If anyone has come across this small but annoying problem and has any ideas
on how to avaoid it, I should be happy to hear from you.

Well, as I said above, you have to PAY ATTENTION at install time when it
asks which file types it should be default handler for. You can turn off
default handling of file types using the relevant options/preferences in
PSP (which changes version to version IIRC). Or you can open any of your
other programs options/preference dialog and set which file-type you
would like it to own.

Note that if you set more than one program as default for a particular
file-extension then the most recent one wins.
 
G

Guest

Dear Mike

The way you write makes me feel as though I have no experience at all in
downloading and installing programs. Actually I have many years of such
experience.

I am grateful to you for taking the time to respond to my problem, so I
thought I would try once more to install PaintShop Pro 8 which i have had
sitting on my shelf for some considerable time. There was a point in the
installation program which called for me to indicate which file formats (as
e.g. "tiff") I wanted the appliction to recognise. I chose what I thought was
an eclectic selection and as a result, the "8" icon took over every file on
my computer.

Thankfully, I set a Restore Point before doing all of this so all I have
lost is the time in finding that I don't seem to have a simple answer to my
problem at this time.
 
G

Guest

But as a follow-up, I reinstalled the program. It only asked me to check file
associations when it asked me to register. I clicked "Skip" and did not
select any file format when prompted to do so. This time it worked, and I
have the program installed without it affecting any icons.
 
M

Mike Williams

Tonyo said:
Dear Mike

The way you write makes me feel as though I have no experience at all in
downloading and installing programs. Actually I have many years of such
experience.

I'm sorry for the tone, but what you wrote doesn't seem to indicate an
understanding of what is happening.

If there is a specific issue with PSP8 then you should address that with
with Jasc (or is it Corel now?). I have never had a problem with PSP
taking over excess file-types.


I am grateful to you for taking the time to respond to my problem, so I
thought I would try once more to install PaintShop Pro 8 which i have had
sitting on my shelf for some considerable time. There was a point in the
installation program which called for me to indicate which file formats (as
e.g. "tiff") I wanted the appliction to recognise. I chose what I thought was
an eclectic selection and as a result, the "8" icon took over every file on
my computer.

I can't judge whether your 'eclectic selection' simply maps to every
filetype on your computer, or there is an actual problem.
Thankfully, I set a Restore Point before doing all of this so all I have
lost is the time in finding that I don't seem to have a simple answer to my
problem at this time.

So, reclaiming filetypes with one of your other image-editing programs
was not an option?
 

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