The North Orange County Computer Club helps The Gadgetress tackle the multitude of readers’ cries for help. NOCCC group has experts in Windows, Word and all sorts of computer topics. The club, which meets monthly on various topics, has been in existence since 1976. Visit the club’s site at noccc.org. To get this answer delivered to your computer automatically, sign up for the e-mail update HERE.
QUESTION: I have Windows XP and I have photos on my computer that came from a digital camera. These photos are in a folder. What is the best way to put them on a CD? When I put them on a CD, they come out as icons and not the actual photo. Also when you put them on a CD, can you make the CD do a slideshow? Thanks for your help.
PC CLUB: It sounds like you already have been successful at placing photos on a CD since you are able to view the icons. Double-clicking an icon should open the photo in the software program that is currently your default for viewing photos on your PC.
This varies with each PC depending on the software currently installed (to set the default program, right click the photo, select “Open With,” and then “Choose Program” and when the options window opens, check the box that says “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file.”).
If you have not installed any software for viewing or editing photos, then the default application, Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, should open and display your photo. The program has ‘Forward’ and ‘Backward’ buttons at the bottom for navigating through your photos. You will have to open each folder individually when viewing photos in this manner.
Windows behaves differently depending on whether you open a folder of photos on a CD or on your PC. When you view or explore the contents of a photo CD, you have a choice of viewing the photos as Thumbnails, Tiles, Icons, or just a List (see image on right). You can control this view by selecting View in the top menu and making your selection. To actually open or see the entire photo you have to double-click an icon as discussed above.
However, when you open a folder of photos that resides on your PC, there is an option to view the photos as a slideshow. For example, when you open the folder My Pictures, you will see an item in the Taskpane on the left under Picture Tasks labeled “View as a slide show”. If you don’t see this, click the Folders button on the Toolbar at the top to view the Taskpane.
Now, to view a slide show of your CD, Windows also has a simple solution. When you insert a CD into your CD drive, a window, or more specifically a Wizard, should open offering you several choices (click image on right for larger view).
One of these is labeled “View a slide show of the images using Windows Picture and Fax viewer”. Selecting this option should start your slide show. A nice feature of this slide show is that it will cycle through of the folders on the CD. If this Wizard does not open there is another method you can try. Open “My Computer,” right-click the drive containing your CD of photos and select the “AutoPlay” option.
– Ed Schwartz, NOCCC member. Visit his Web site at www.edwardns.com.