Problem viewing images

[Waffle Stopper]

I have a computer running XP. I just got rid of a nasty virus that "installed" an "Anti-spyware" program. But after I rid the computer of this virus, I noticed that images wouldn't be displayed in the "Windows picture viewer". I can open them and edit them in Paint, but they won't load in the picture viewer. The program itself loads fine (or so it seems), and it says it's loading the image, but even after two minutes, the image is not displayed and it's still "loading the image".

Anyone have any ideas?

Oh, and also, after removing the virus, I ran a legit updated antivirus and spyware removal tool and got rid of anything they found.

[Paul Komski]

Possible fix by reregistering as per http://en.allexperts.com/q/Windows-XP-3282/windows-picture-fax-viewer.htm

You might also want to try running sfc /scannow (http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/1752) from a command prompt and have your installation CD at the ready.

[Waffle Stopper]

Thanks Paul for the help, but I don't think that's the problem. When I click on the thumbnail the default program is picture viewer. It actually opens, but cannot open the file for some reason. Perhaps I'll try the scan tool to check for system file corruption and if that doesn't work, then I'll just download a different program and set that program to the default and avoid the hassle.

I appreciate the reply.

[Whyzman]

You might want to have a gander at Irfanview: http://www.irfanview.com/

Many of us here use it...

[Paul Komski]

I agree with trying IrfanView as it will do all, and much more, that you can do with MS Fax and Picture Viewer. The degree of its versatility is not always immediately obvious so do have a look through and become familiar with its menu items. You can set Paint as an external editor within IrfanView but in fact it can itself do all the basic editing that Paint can do. If you want a more extensive free editing program maybe have a look at PhotoFiltre (http://photofiltre.free.fr/).

The MS product is not an exe that can be run in the normal way and is integrated into the OS. That was the real reason for suggesting sfc /scannow since if some system files are corrupt then its quite possible that other ones are too. A corrupted registry is another problem altogether and might require a full repair installation (http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm).

[Waffle Stopper]

Thanks for the help guys. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but it's working fine now. I'm probably going to download the new picture viewing software, but Picture and fax viewer is working. I turned it on yesterday and it worked. But thanks ofr the help again.