Preview images in the right-click popup menu

There are plenty of image viewing applications around. Irfanview is one of my personal favorites. But they all involve starting the program to view a picture file. For image file formats that require a large application to be started, like Adobe Photoshop, an alternate image preview application can be very useful. It saves time browsing through files based on a preview.

A different type of image preview is possible with an application called FastPreview. This application, when installed, allows the user to simply right-click an image file, and see a preview right there in the popup menu!

How cool is that?

Of course, it is possible to configure Windows itself to show Extra Large Icons, which can allow you to see sufficient information of an image to use it for selecting pictures. But that setting will apply to all files in a folder, and also require more processing time, especially the first time you view a folder.

FastPreview shows the preview in the popup menu in the size that you want. While previewing an image, you can select the option FP ›› Info and Setttings in the popup menu (just below the preview) to change the size of the preview.

Keen on trying it out? You can download FastPreview here. FastPreview runs on Windows 7, Vista, and XP,and there is a 32-bit and 64-bit version.