# Can someone help me explain this strange graphics problem on my computer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 16, 2003, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-explain-this-strange-graphics-problem-on-my-computer/195583 "2003-08-16T14:29:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-explain-this-strange-graphics-problem-on-my-computer/195583/1 "2003-08-16T14:29:26Z")
Okay, I have a problem with the appearance of thumbnails on my PC. About a month ago, something happened to affect how they look. Instead of getting a miniature version of the picture, the thumbnail now is a white box with that geveric symbol Windows uses to designate a picture file. I don’t have a clue as to how this happened, but it’s rather disconcerting. I have a lot of picture files, and now I have no way of seeing what they are without opening them. I am running Windows 2000 Server as my OS, and this problem only seems to affect JPEG files. Bitmaps still have ordinary thumbnails. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-explain-this-strange-graphics-problem-on-my-computer/195583/2 "2003-08-16T14:35:24Z")
Just an idea: the file association for.jpg has gotten hosed. Whatever graphics handler you’re using isn’t being associated with that extension. How to fix it is something I can’t help with. So the guess as to what’s wrong is all I’m attempting here. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-explain-this-strange-graphics-problem-on-my-computer/195583/3 "2003-08-16T14:46:30Z")
Well, All jpeg’s are assigned to be opened by Microsoft Photo Editor. I suppose it’s possible that I accidentally erased something important-I do stupid things all the time-but I can’t recal ever messing around in any place where such a file would be kept. ---
**Author:** ![Antimanics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71c47a/32.png) [@Antimanics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antimanics)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-explain-this-strange-graphics-problem-on-my-computer/195583/4 "2003-08-16T14:58:03Z")
Is it the generic icon or the icon for Microsoft Photo Editor? ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-explain-this-strange-graphics-problem-on-my-computer/195583/5 "2003-08-16T15:05:08Z")
Start: H Search for: thumbnails This is for XPhome: "To change how you view items in a folder Open My Documents. If the folder you want is not located in My Documents or its subfolders, use Search to find it. To open Search, click Start, point to Search, and then click For Files or Folders. Double-click the folder that contains the files you want to view. On the View menu, click Filmstrip, Thumbnails, Tiles, Icons, List or Details. " ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-explain-this-strange-graphics-problem-on-my-computer/195583/6 "2003-08-16T18:20:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Antimanics \* > \*\*Is it the generic icon or the icon for Microsoft Photo Editor? \*\* It appears to be the icon for Photo Editor, a brush coming off and up to the right of a little picture frame. **handy** , I actually have tried fiddling with the views. This problem remains no matter what. I guess a better way to phrase the question in the OP is: can anyone help me FIX this? ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-explain-this-strange-graphics-problem-on-my-computer/195583/7 "2003-08-16T18:49:22Z")
Try changing the association. The easiest way is to hold down the Shift key, right-click the file, hit **Open With** , **Choose Program** , check the box for **Always use this program to open these files** , and choose **Microsoft Paint**. If that doesn’t work then use the **Rebuild Icons** option on the **Repair** tab of [TweakUI](http://www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/downloads/powertoys/networking/nttweakui.asp). ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-explain-this-strange-graphics-problem-on-my-computer/195583/8 "2003-08-16T18:55:22Z")
Oh, [this](http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;243401) looks like a better fix. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2003, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-explain-this-strange-graphics-problem-on-my-computer/195583/9 "2003-08-16T23:51:43Z")
**Number** , I tried that Microsoft fix; _it_ didn’t work either! Now I’m getting a little desperate. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-explain-this-strange-graphics-problem-on-my-computer/195583/10 "2003-08-17T14:32:00Z")
Looks like its time for System Restore. You can try that if you have it. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-explain-this-strange-graphics-problem-on-my-computer/195583/11 "2003-08-17T15:25:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > \*\*Looks like its time for System Restore. You can try that if you have it. \*\* Do you know what you find when you hit START: h and type in “system restore” on Windows 2000? Nothing. 2000 doesn’t have that feature. **Lizard** , have you tried creating a new folder and moving the pictures into it? Windows should generate a new thumbs.db file. I’ve experimented on my system, and for some reason deleting or renaming the existing thumbs.db doesn’t work correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Daizy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@Daizy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daizy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-help-me-explain-this-strange-graphics-problem-on-my-computer/195583/12 "2003-08-17T15:31:45Z")
Scroll to the bottom of [this page](http://discussions.virtualdr.com/showthread.php?threadid=125952&highlight=thumbnail). It should do the trick.