Activated Win Photo Viewer Its defaulted to all my Icon, Ani & Cursors

Dasha · 17 Dec 2018

Hi I Activated Windows Photo Viewer from a Forum as I do not like the “Photo” App that is defaulted in Windows Ten and now Photo Viewer keeps trying to default open any ANI ICon or Cursor File ?

All the Icons I had Downloaded to my Downloads > New Icons Folder / over time won’t open anymore from Eg:

“Folder Right Click > Properties > Right click> Change Icon > click Browse then Downloads > New Icons” and I choose an Icon from the opened new Icons Folder

Instead the folder opens and they all have the Photo Viewer Icons on them' but if I try and select a random open anIicon with Photo Viewer it will open in Photo Viewer just that Icon I had clicked on and that's it ?

The same is for all my Cursors and Ani Files says Photo Viewer Cannot open this file

I cannot change Mouse Pointer or Cursors (ANI) Can Someone give me some advice please Regards Dasha

dalchina · 17 Dec 2018

Hi, I recently found options to open .ani files seemed more limited than I seemed to recall.

Only certain programs can do that: Irfanview is one.

Depending on what programs you have installed, you can obviously try experimenting by rt clicking a .ani file, and trying Open With, More apps, and selecting a program just to see what happens.

Or you can use Google - very helpful- the links will help you identify programs that can open .ani files- then you can install one and set it as default for .ani:

This list from that search is helpful:
.ani Extension - List of programs that can open .ani files

Dasha · 17 Dec 2018

Thank you dalchina, I can see what you mean about irfran' but what I cannot grasp is why it was not a default program in Win TEN
What program was opening these Files by default before I activated Photo View, from the standard MS "Photo" app?
Do I download Irfran and go into the regedit Path that's listed for irfran and install it via the regedit path in the list?

Do I have to remove Photo Viewer First How do I find the regedit Path to it

There are no longer any Choices except Photo or to activate Photo Viewer that can be selected to be defaulted in the various Def methods you can try and select another default BUT M S or Windows will not let you access them the same with Video I use MP-CH but you can only access - Films & TV or in Music only Groove? Likewise you only have Win Media Player, Paint, 3D etc - very frustrating" I have MS Windows 10 Version 1803 (os build 17134,471) I had to have my PC repaired after the 1809 update install problems? Do I need to update? Rather problematic" should I just install Irfran and see? Dasha

Dasha · 18 Dec 2018

Thanks dalchina' All good I installed irfran and it fixed the problem immediately thank you for your help and your good advice Regards Dasha

dalchina · 18 Dec 2018

There are hundreds of possible file extensions. Windows by default does not and can not handle all of them. Some are completely specific to a particular program.

The less common an extension is, the less likely it is that common programs will handle it.

So for example you may need 2 or 3 or more imaging programs installed to cover a wide range of image extensions, depending on which programs you choose, and how you want to process the file type.

Assigning the default must be done from Windows' GUI, not from within the program (as used to be in Win 7 e.g.)

A useful trick is to have one small demo folder each for docs, videos, images, audio etc containing all the file types you are interested in as regards your personal files, for example. So your images folder can contain e.g. ico, ani, gif, bmp, jpg,png, bmp .... and you can see at a glance what these are assigned to and how they behave.

Dasha · 18 Dec 2018

Thank you for your kindness dalchina' I have taken that on board Regards Dasha