Image viewers are the software applications, helping us to find, sort and view all the graphical files on the computer hard disk. The Windows OS offers built-in image viewer, which will be sufficient for most of the PC users, however,there is always a certain class of advanced users, who prefer to experiment with alternative programs. This article targets those users, who are always looking for something new and are not satisfied with the tools, which Microsoft offers in the standard Windows pack.
ACDSee 7.0
It is one of the most well-known and popular alternative viewers. The ACDSee 7.0 is a complex solution, containing the viewer itself, a photo editor FotoCanvas and printing utility FotoSlate. The remarkable feature of this software is the perfect combination of the speed in viewing the images and a rich set of additional functions and options. The developers added many interesting and useful tools, like supporting of the RAW format, therefore, the program can work with images directly from the digital cameras or import the images from the mobile phones. The tools for sorting and managing the great picture galleries are also improved. Nowadays, the user can add the key words or a short annotation to the pictures, thus the digital galleries resemble typical photo albums now . The program also enables the user to create slide-shows in the Flash format and to burn the CDs, containing different multimedia content. This program can be surely recommended for all experts in the digital images, who are ready to accept the shareware status of the ACDSee 7.0. More information is available on www.acdsystems.com
FastStone Image viewer 2.1
If you want to have the viewer with its rich functionality and high efficiency and do not want to pay additional money, the FastStone Image Viewer is the most appropiate one. This is a freeware product of the FastStone Soft Company, available for downloading from www.faststone.org (2.5Mb). The program has a very convenient and clear interface. All the necessary toolbars, pop-up tips and service information can be accessed very easily and right where you need it. The program offers an image editor with the abilities to adjust the brightness, contrast, to remove the red-eye effect and to add many interesting effects to the photographs. The slide shows are also among the features of theFastStone Image Viewer. It is interesting that a program allows the adding of comments and music to the slide shows, resulting in a very nice impression of the image viewing process.
Picasa 2.0
Created by Google is the best characteristic of the program. Google supplied its viewers with all the necessary and up-to-date functions, furnished with the understandable and smart interface. Everyone can download the Picasa free application on www.picasa.com. Being the authority in web searching, Google provided the Picasa with perfect a searching tool. It is not necessary to place all the graphical files into one folder, the program will find them everywhere on your computer and sort them for a comfortable viewing and editing. Among the unique features is the TimeLine, which creates the slide show, sorting all the images in "time of creation" sequence. The editing, printing and emailing of the images are also the features of the Picasa 2.0.