INTRODUCTION
IrfanView is the ideal graphic viewer and much more.  Where and how to install it on your computer was given in nt033.  Further tips on the use of IrfanView were given in nt079.  This session assumes that you now have it available on your computer.  If not, visit the above sites and download it – you’ll be glad you did.  One note of caution, while going through the setup process, only check the following graphic types: BMP, GIF, JPG, TIF and WMF.  You can go back later and add more if you need them.

VIEW
Once installed, all that is needed for viewing a graphic is to click (or double click) the graphic file.  This is done from My Computer (or Windows Explorer).  Open My computer > if you don’t see a split screen display, click View + Explorer Bar + Folders (Windows 98) > navigate to My Computer\My Pictures > click (or double click) a graphic file.  The picture will be displayed.  If the view size is too small or too large, click View + Display + Options + Fit only big images to window (this is recommended because small images will appear pixelized if enlarged to window size).  Press the Esc key to return to the My Computer screen.
 
RESIZE
Images come in all sizes – generally: downloaded from the Internet 3KB to 300KB, from a scanner 150KB to 1000KB, from a digital camera 300KB to 2000KB, etc.  Before E-mailing a picture it should be converted to JPG (if not already JPG) and reduced in size to about 150KB or less.  The best way to determine the size of any picture is to set Windows Explorer to view in detail.  To do this (from My Computer), click View + Details.  Click (or double click) an image file that is greater than 150KB (it will be displayed by IrfanView).  Click Image + Resize/Resample.  Leave all settings as they are except enter 1000 in the larger of Width: or Height: (the aspect ratio will be maintained when only one dimension is changed) > click OK (the resized file will be displayed).  Click File + Save As > navigate to My Documents\My Pictures and add –s to the file name (indicating small) > click Save.  Press Esc and view the new file size (the new file may be displayed at the bottom of the My Computer listing).

THUMBNAILS
To view thumbnails of all image files in a folder, click on any file in the folder > click File + Thumbnails.  Double click a thumbnail to view at full size.

EXTENSIONS
The file extensions that are viewed by IrfanView can easily be changed.  Click on any graphic (IrfanView will display the picture and it’s own toolbars) > click Options + Properties > click the Extensions tab (all file types are displayed).  You can check or un-check any or all of the given extensions.  Click OK when finished.  Those with an * require a plug-in.  All plug-ins can be downloaded at one time from http://www.irfanview.com/.

CONCLUSION
IrfanView has a reputation of being one of the best graphic viewers available.  It has a very efficient algorithm for saving images, especially JPGs.  Only a few of the features are covered here.  The best way to learn is by experimentation.  Don’t be afraid to try some of the other features such as Slide Show, image Enhancement, image Rotation, etc.