# Windows explorer problem **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2003, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-problem/198837 "2003-08-31T18:30:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-problem/198837/21 "2003-09-01T13:11:20Z")
Did that, **Horseflesh**. It said it rewrote it to my registry. I rebooted, but there’s still no thumbnails with the jpg files. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-problem/198837/22 "2003-09-01T19:27:36Z")
Sorry to hear that **QtM** , that’s the only quick fix I could come up with. Short of reinstalling IE or Windows, have you considered getting a shareware/freeware program that specializes in thumbnail viewing? My favorite is [Thumbs Plus](http://www.cerious.com/download.shtml) from Cerious Software. It sure beats having to click each file to see it’s thumbnail. You can find more software by putting “thumbnail viewer” in to the search box at [Dowload.com](http://Dowload.com). ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-problem/198837/23 "2003-09-01T20:19:49Z")
That’s a nice program, **Horseflesh**. I’m trying it for 30 days to see how I like it. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-problem/198837/24 "2003-09-01T22:41:11Z")
I recently found a good free program to manage images: [http://www.fototime.com/pages/ftdownloads](http://www.fototime.com/pages/ftdownloads). It’s software provided by the FotoTime service, but there’s absolutely no need to sign up for their pay web service to use it locally on your own PC. You can use their album structure or just use the “explore” option to access your images as they’re stored in your own directories. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-problem/198837/25 "2003-09-01T22:47:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Qadgop the Mercotan \* > \*\*That’s a nice program, **Horseflesh**. I’m trying it for 30 days to see how I like it. \*\* Thumbs Plus is a good program, I’ve used it for several years now. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-problem/198837/26 "2003-09-01T22:57:46Z")
Ifranview does thumbnails and it’s for free. ---
**Author:** ![hoboonmoto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hoboonmoto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hoboonmoto)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-problem/198837/27 "2003-09-02T02:01:52Z")
Shitcan the IE, (i do most of the time, except forums, it seems to work the best, and is easiest to clean… see my post on security ☹ Run mozilla [www.mozilla.org](http://www.mozilla.org) or Opera [www.opera.com](http://www.opera.com) (opera sucks for forums, at least in my experience.) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-problem/198837/28 "2003-09-02T02:28:04Z")
And how does that help my Windows Explorer problem, **hoboonmoto**? ---
**Author:** ![hoboonmoto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hoboonmoto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hoboonmoto)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-problem/198837/29 "2003-09-02T02:44:10Z")
Screw the IE. simple. You will/should get most if not all of what you need, via the download. Sorry, just trying to help, \*\*Qadgop the Mercotan \*\*. ---
**Author:** ![hoboonmoto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hoboonmoto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hoboonmoto)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-problem/198837/30 "2003-09-02T02:46:02Z")
Sorry. I got ya. WINDOWS Explorer. Had my own bit of trouble with IE. Glitched. Pologies. If you need a copy of 2000 I have one. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-problem/198837/31 "2003-09-02T04:47:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hoboonmoto \* > \*\*Sorry. I got ya. WINDOWS Explorer. Had my own bit of trouble with IE. Glitched. Pologies. If you need a copy of 2000 I have one. > 🙂 \*\* Unless that’s a legit disc that you don’t already have installed on a computer, I wouldn’t offer it to anyone. Not on these boards anyway. **Qadgop** , I had another idea if you’re still willing to try fixing the thumbnail view in Windows Explorer. You said that .bmp files displayed thumbnails fine, right? Put a .bmp file in the same folder as your .jpg pictures. See if Explorer will show a thumbnail for it there. If it doesn’t, then it could be a corrupted thumbs.db file. According to [this article](http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;188540) from MS each folder with thumbail view enabled has a hidden file called thumbs.db in it which supposed contain the thumbnails you’ve viewed so far. I say supposedly because when I enabled the view for one of my folders it did not create any such file. Make sure you’ve got Explorer set to show hidden files (Folder Options, View tab, Show Hidden Files radio button) and look for thumbs.db and delete it if found. You might want to search your whole hard drive for that file as well, but don’t delete one that’s in the Thumbs Plus folder (older versions also used thumbs.db for it’s database of thumbnails, don’t know about the newest version). Delete any that you find, but don’t worry, Explorer will rebuild them the next time you try to view a thumbnail. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-problem/198837/32 "2003-09-03T20:10:49Z")
**hoboonmoto** , we take copyright violations very seriously on these boards. Your post is a violation of board policies. Please take the time to read the [FAQ](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=106617) and the [Registration Agreement](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=148527) carefully before you make your next post. Thank you and welcome to the boards. - **xash** General Questions Moderator [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-problem/198837.md?page=1)