With the release of the tenth modification of Windows, changes have affected not only the operating system itself, but also some of its components. So, for example, the developers introduced a new browser, set the new program "Photos" as the default for working with pictures, and added many more innovations. Alas, many of these decisions did not suit the taste. Nevertheless, let's dwell on the Windows 10 photo viewer separately, evaluate its pros and cons, and also consider questions related to how to return the classic viewer or find a replacement for the standard applet in the form of alternative software products. But first, a few words about what the new application is and why it did not please users so much.
New Windows 10 Photo Viewer Overview
First of all, it is worth pointing out some of the misconceptions of most users who are clearly unfamiliar with the work of the tenth modification of Windows, who think that a new application can be easily changed. The old Windows 10 Photo Viewer is only associated with TIF and TIFF image formats. Try to open a picture of these types or any other format (except WEBP, which is not recognized by any of the available viewers and editors except browsers) from the "Explorer".
In the best case, if the settings have not been changed, you will be prompted to select a program, but it cannot be ruled out that the image will be opened just in the Photos application.
Users are especially indignant at the fact that the new program is installed to view almost all types of graphics by default initially, and change it in the system settings or select another application from the RMB menu (except for the pre-installed Paint and Paint3D editors) to set associations is impossible.
Another point is that the developers of the new Windows 10 Photo Viewer have added some additional features in the form of simple tools for quickly creating slideshows or videos based on pictures with the addition of music tracks. But after all, most users use more advanced software packages for such purposes. In addition, legitimate doubts arise as to why then a “native” video studio is needed, which was created in the image and likeness of an outdatedmovie maker app? Ultimately, all this provokes users to return to the classic application and is justified at least by the fact that the viewer must view the graphics, and not perform any additional actions with it (there are special editors for this). In addition, native Windows tools, even in terms of editing pictures, are still far from perfect and can boast of clearly limited sets of tools.
Where is Windows 10 Photo Viewer located and how do I launch the program?
You can launch the application in the simplest way through the usual "Start" menu, where in the list of installed programs you need to go down to the very bottom and select the "Photos" applet.
You can also open a graphic file directly from Explorer. You will not find the application in the form of an executable file there, since it is presented in the form of several software components and libraries, and the program shortcut, which, in theory, could be located in the Windows main menu folder (you need to look for it in each user directory in the system partition with navigating through the AppData and Roaming directories), the file manager is also missing.
How do I get the desktop app back?
Since many people want to return to Windows 10 the standard photo viewer, familiar from Windows 7, it will not be possible to do this without tampering with the system registry.
First call the editor(regedit), in the HKLM branch, go down the partition tree, as shown in the image above, and find the Windows Photo Viewer directory, which has a FileAssociations subfolder. On the right in the window, for each format that is supposed to be opened using the classic applet, you need to create a new string parameter with the name corresponding to the extension and the value PhotoViewer. FileAssoc. Tiff.
After that, go to the standard applications section through the options menu, click on the link to set the default settings, go to the classic viewer section, select all the necessary formats and save the changes. Now you can directly in the "Explorer" use the RMB menu for the selected graphic file, where the item "Open with …" is located, with which the classic applet is selected and the checkbox is checked for permanent (permanent) use of the application for all types of files with this extension.
Additional system tools and office suites
In some cases, you can use other programs from Microsoft, where the Windows 10 Photo Viewer clearly loses. We are talking about editing, since only the simplest operations can be performed in a standard applet. Here you can use either regular Paint or Paint3D. But these editors are not particularly interesting either.
Where better look the viewer from the office set Office Picture Manager and evenPaint. NET editor, approaching Photoshop in its capabilities.
Alternative software
How to enable the photo viewer in Windows 10 in both the new and the old guise, figured out. But, since we are talking about viewers now, software products from third-party developers look much better anyway. So, for example, the notorious ACDSee package is very popular, but it is paid. Among the freely distributed software, the most popular are programs of the XnView and IrfanView class, which are not inferior in their capabilities to a paid counterpart (and XnView also has a built-in audio player). However, among software products for viewing graphics that have some additional tools or advanced features, you can find quite a lot of interesting applications. In particular, one of the most unique and unlike anything can be called the Galapix package, which enlarges any image to an incredible size without losing the quality of detail. Alas, at the moment there is no version for Windows, and the program was originally created for use in Linux and Mac OS X.
Results
As for summing up, we can only say with certainty that the innovation for viewing graphics did not take root, despite the addition of new features. By and large, they turned out to be useless to anyone, and the standard application itself looks somehow unconvincing (some people find it complicated, others don’t like the overloaded interface, others complain about the presence of unnecessary functions,the fourth is not satisfied with the fact that it is simply impossible to replace it or get rid of it without the use of special techniques, etc.). But here, as they say, the taste and color…
