TV and Photos in Windows Vista

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In this conclusion to a five-part article series on dealing with Vista's less endearing media-handling traits, you'll learn how to get rid of the Windows Photo Gallery, fix broken TV listings, and more. This article is excerpted from chapter four of the book Windows Vista Annoyances: Tips, Secrets, and Hacks for the Cranky Consumer, written by David A. Karp (O'Reilly, 2008; ISBN: 0596527624). Copyright © 2008 O'Reilly Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission from the publisher. Available from booksellers or direct from O'Reilly Media.

Get Rid of the Windows Photo Gallery

Like the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer found in Windows XP, Vista’s own Windows Photo Gallery application is not easy to get rid of. You can install a new application that makes itself the default for your image files, and in some cases, the Windows Photo Gallery will still appear when you double-click image files.

If you want to use another image viewer without making any changes to your system, there are ways to open images other than double-clicking. For instance, you can drag-drop an image file onto the window of any viewer to open it, or even right-click an image file and select Open With to choose another program.

To choose a different application as the default for photos, you may have to disable the Windows Photo Gallery:

1. Open the Registry Editor (described in Chapter 3).
   
2. Expand the branches toHKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\
   .ico\ShellEx\ContextMenuHandlers\ ShellImagePreview.
   
3. Highlight theShellImagePreviewkey, select File ➝ Export, type a filename, and click Save to back up this Registry key. (See Chapter 3 for details.)
   
4. Delete theShellImagePreviewkey and close the Registry Editor when you’re done.

If you don’t want to mess around in the Registry, you can also do this with Creative Element Power Tools (http://www.creativelement.com/powertools/):

1. Open the Creative Element Power Tools Control Panel, turn on the Edit file type associations option, click Accept, and then close the Control Panel.  

2. Right-click any image file and select Edit File Type. 
   
3. On the right side, right-click Windows Photo Gallery Viewer Image Verbs, and select Open Registry Editor here. 
   
4. In the Registry Editor, select File ➝ Export, type a filename, and then click Save to back up this Registry key. Close the Registry Editor to return to File Type Doctor. 
   
5. With Windows Photo Gallery Viewer Image Verbs still highlighted, click the Remove button.

To re-enable the Windows Photo Gallery at any time, just double-click the Registry patch you created.

Microsoft in its infinite wisdom created a new image file format to be released along with Windows Vista, called HD Photo. (I think that makes about 60 formats we now get to deal with.) Unfortunately, very few applications support this format, so if you need to routinely view these files (with the .hdp filename extension), you may want to keep Windows Photo Gallery intact for this purpose. Of course, you could always manually edit the .hdp file type and add theShellImagePreviewkey to itsContextMenuHandlerskey, allowing you to freely disable Windows Photo Gallery for all other formats. See Chapter 3 for details on the structure of file types.

Next: Get Accurate Color Output >>
 

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This article is excerpted from chapter four of the book Windows Vista Annoyances: Tips, Secrets, and Hacks for the Cranky Consumer, written by David A. Karp (O'Reilly, 2008; ISBN: 0596527624). Check it out today at your favorite bookstore. Buy this book now.