There are a lot of image viewers out there. Some of them allow to browse the contents of an entire folder as well as a single file. But you have to start a separate program to view any individual file. The latest versions of Windows Explorer can be switched into the Thumbnail view too. That is fine. But it can be a pain, if you are looking for one small image, or just have to look at couple of files.

Instant ThumbView gives you a solution. It is an instant image viewer that displays thumbnail (reduced picture), of selected file in a tooltip window next to the mouse pointer. It supports a lot of popular image file formats, including BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WMF, EMF, TIFF and so on.

As Instant ThumbView is a Windows shell extension, it is always ready and available to use. To bring it up, open any folder with image files in Windows Explorer, and then hover an image file with your mouse pointer. You will see the tooltip saying Extracting Thumbnail..., and then the image thumbnail should be displayed as shown on the screenshot.

Using Configuration Manager you can configure Instant ThumbView to display thumbnails only if the SCROLL LOCK indicator is turned on. In this case, if you do not need any viewers at the moment and want to concentrate on another task, just toggle the SCROLL LOCK indicator off.

Also you can select whether to display larger thumbnails when CAPS LOCK indicator is turned on, adjust small and large thumbnail dimensions and select file formats you want to view.

As you can see our instant thumbnail viewer is quite simple but effective solution for viewing images right in Windows Explorer. It is easy-to-install and very easy-to-use and could be of help to experienced users and beginners alike.

The latest version allows to check whether a newer release is available directly from Configuration Manager.

A tiny image viewer that displays image thumbnails in a tooltip window, when mouse pointer is hovered over an image file in Windows Explorer. It supports a lot of popular image file formats, including BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WMF, EMF, TIFF and is very handy for quick image viewing.

Key features:

• image files preview
• seamless Explorer integration
• easy configuration and use
• popular file formats support

Click a link below to:

• Download Your Free Evaluation Copy of Instant ThumbView
  - or -
• Buy a full version of Instant ThumbView

Note. This software requires Windows 98/ME/2000/XP or Windows 95/NT with Internet Explorer 4.0 (or later) and Windows Desktop Update installed.

Please let us know what features you would like to see in the next program release. Your questions, comments, suggestions and feature requests are greatly appreciated.

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Instant ThumbView versions prior to v1.8.5 have some problems on computers having an Intel Pentium IV processor that supports Hyper Threading Technology under Microsoft Windows XP operating system.

To make Instant ThumbView working and solve this issue follow these steps, please:

• On the Tools menu in Windows Explorer, click Folder Options....
• In the General tab select the Single-click to open an item (point to select).
• Click OK.

For additional information look at the screenshot below.

If the problem still exists some Explorer performance options might need changing. Please do the following:

• Right-click the My Computer icon on your desktop or launch the System Control Panel applet.
• In the System Properties dialog box switch to the Advanced tab and click Settings in the Performance section.
• In the Performance Options dialog box switch to the Visual Effects tab and clear the checkbox labeled Show shadows under menus.
• Click OK.

For additional information look at the screenshot below.

Under Microsoft Windows 98 Instant ThumbView cannot extract image thumbnail when the Web style option for folders is turned on. It does not display any thumbnails for those folders. To workaround this problem, you should disable the Web style option for folders in Windows Explorer.

To do so, follow these steps, please:

• On the View menu in Windows Explorer, click Folder Options.
• In the General tab click Classic style.
• Click OK.

Also you can turn off Web View for any separate folder (by deselecting the As Web Page option in the folder's View menu).