Incredible program! Don't forget it plays music and videos. Click the area with drop-down menu that says "Images". There you will find Images, Videos or Both. Play music while watching a slideshow. You'll love the program!
James Moberg
September 1, 2008 9:30 AM
I've been using this for a while. The slideshow feature is awesome! I was going to use PowerPoint or a dedicated slideshow program for a 20 Year Reunion presentation... but I opted to use FastStone Image Vier's built-in slideshow feature. The transition effects are nice and it can automatically display the image name as a caption.
Nelson Webber
September 2, 2008 7:46 AM
Hi there. I've been using FastStone Image Viewer for several years and I do like it very much. FastStone makes several great programs and one I use fairly often is FastStone Photo Resizer. It will resize your photos (obviously) but it can do so much more! You can use it to convert, rename, manipulate, crop, rotate, etc. You can even add text or a watermark to your photo. An added plus is that it will allow you to do all of the above and more in batch mode. It's fast, efficient and it doesn't suck up a lot of memory while it's running. This combined with the Image Viewer pretty much give you all the basic editing tools you're likely to need.
In short, FastStone anything rocks!
Nelson
Kathy Dennis
September 2, 2008 11:52 AM
Looking at this for my husband to use, and it's frozen 3 times in a few minutes. Any stability problems? Do I need to download extra software for some of the features?
Barry
September 2, 2008 1:45 PM
To the person below or anybody having freezing or stability problems:
Click on the link that Leo provided, called 'FastStone Image Viewer' - it will take you to the FastStone home page.
Under 'Products', click on the 'download' link. You will then see 4 different versions of the ImageViewer. (ie: exe, exe (site 2) zip and portable).
Click on the 'portable' download link to download a portable zip file called 'FSViewer35.zip'. Once downloaded on your PC, unzip the file and it will create a new folder with the same name as the zip file.
Inside are ALL the portable files. Place the unzipped program folder anywhere on your PC or flash drive.
The program is now yours! With no-installation, there are NO files scattered in your Windows System folders.
Since the program is PORTABLE, this *should solve all your freezing and stability problems. (*Depending [of course] on the stability of your entire PC).
It works with Windows XP, Windows Vista, both 32bit and 64 bit systems. By the way, the viewer does what the 'Resizer' does and much much more. You only need this one program: FastStoneViewer! It's the BEST!
Ron
September 2, 2008 2:08 PM
I use Irfanview, which seems to have all of the same functions. If anyone uses both, please tell me which you prefer, and why.
I found FastStone's UI more intuitive. IrfanView always annoyed me in some way - not displaying pictures zoomed when I wanted it to, and just not generally obvious how to make it do what I wanted. I know many people are happy with IrfanView.
-Leo
Ziggie
September 9, 2008 7:38 AM
I think this program is really neat, but I stick with Irfanview because of it's support for EPS and AI images.
Well, in theory. I'm still trying to get that part to work.
Morgan Schweers
December 6, 2008 2:55 AM
Greetings,
...wow.
I know this article is about FastStone, but thank you for the info on Firehand Ember. It was (and is!) my favorite image viewer and manager ever. I have a license for it, and I treasure it. There's all kinds of great touches, like an image scaling algorithm that makes even VERY scaled up images still look very good. It's blazing fast, and perfect for my needs.
If you know where to download the last version of Firehand Ember, I'd love to know. I have various versions, but I was an idiot and didn't save the download for the most recent of them years ago when I downloaded it, and that makes it hard when changing computers.
I wondered what happened to the company, and while I imagined that they didn't make enough money due to a lack of exposure, I never imagined the truth.
Thanks again; while I didn't know the author personally, I also count it a sad loss to the software industry.
-- Morgan
John
April 18, 2009 5:28 AM
I too have used fully licensed firehand products for MANY years and I too am sad to see my favorite image viewer no longer being upgraded or produced. The authors of it were very talented and will be missed. I will definitely give FastStone a try.
--John
Jake
May 15, 2009 5:34 AM
firehand ember has been my favorite image viewer for many years -- super-fast and no bloat. i'd always suggested it to my colleagues. thanks leo for recommending faststone. i'm delighted with the features and performance so far and glad to be using a supported product. i'll definitely be offering the author a donation -- and a few suggestions! [j]
Comments
Read the article that everyone's commenting on.
August 31, 2008 11:29 AM
Incredible program! Don't forget it plays music and videos. Click the area with drop-down menu that says "Images". There you will find Images, Videos or Both. Play music while watching a slideshow. You'll love the program!
September 1, 2008 9:30 AM
I've been using this for a while. The slideshow feature is awesome! I was going to use PowerPoint or a dedicated slideshow program for a 20 Year Reunion presentation... but I opted to use FastStone Image Vier's built-in slideshow feature. The transition effects are nice and it can automatically display the image name as a caption.
September 2, 2008 7:46 AM
Hi there. I've been using FastStone Image Viewer for several years and I do like it very much. FastStone makes several great programs and one I use fairly often is FastStone Photo Resizer. It will resize your photos (obviously) but it can do so much more! You can use it to convert, rename, manipulate, crop, rotate, etc. You can even add text or a watermark to your photo. An added plus is that it will allow you to do all of the above and more in batch mode. It's fast, efficient and it doesn't suck up a lot of memory while it's running. This combined with the Image Viewer pretty much give you all the basic editing tools you're likely to need.
In short, FastStone anything rocks!
Nelson
September 2, 2008 11:52 AM
Looking at this for my husband to use, and it's frozen 3 times in a few minutes. Any stability problems? Do I need to download extra software for some of the features?
September 2, 2008 1:45 PM
To the person below or anybody having freezing or stability problems:
Click on the link that Leo provided, called 'FastStone Image Viewer' - it will take you to the FastStone home page.
Under 'Products', click on the 'download' link. You will then see 4 different versions of the ImageViewer. (ie: exe, exe (site 2) zip and portable).
Click on the 'portable' download link to download a portable zip file called 'FSViewer35.zip'. Once downloaded on your PC, unzip the file and it will create a new folder with the same name as the zip file.
Inside are ALL the portable files. Place the unzipped program folder anywhere on your PC or flash drive.
The program is now yours! With no-installation, there are NO files scattered in your Windows System folders.
Since the program is PORTABLE, this *should solve all your freezing and stability problems. (*Depending [of course] on the stability of your entire PC).
It works with Windows XP, Windows Vista, both 32bit and 64 bit systems. By the way, the viewer does what the 'Resizer' does and much much more. You only need this one program: FastStoneViewer! It's the BEST!
September 2, 2008 2:08 PM
I use Irfanview, which seems to have all of the same functions. If anyone uses both, please tell me which you prefer, and why.
-Leo
September 9, 2008 7:38 AM
I think this program is really neat, but I stick with Irfanview because of it's support for EPS and AI images.
Well, in theory. I'm still trying to get that part to work.
December 6, 2008 2:55 AM
Greetings,
...wow.
I know this article is about FastStone, but thank you for the info on Firehand Ember. It was (and is!) my favorite image viewer and manager ever. I have a license for it, and I treasure it. There's all kinds of great touches, like an image scaling algorithm that makes even VERY scaled up images still look very good. It's blazing fast, and perfect for my needs.
If you know where to download the last version of Firehand Ember, I'd love to know. I have various versions, but I was an idiot and didn't save the download for the most recent of them years ago when I downloaded it, and that makes it hard when changing computers.
I wondered what happened to the company, and while I imagined that they didn't make enough money due to a lack of exposure, I never imagined the truth.
Thanks again; while I didn't know the author personally, I also count it a sad loss to the software industry.
-- Morgan
April 18, 2009 5:28 AM
I too have used fully licensed firehand products for MANY years and I too am sad to see my favorite image viewer no longer being upgraded or produced. The authors of it were very talented and will be missed. I will definitely give FastStone a try.
--John
May 15, 2009 5:34 AM
firehand ember has been my favorite image viewer for many years -- super-fast and no bloat. i'd always suggested it to my colleagues. thanks leo for recommending faststone. i'm delighted with the features and performance so far and glad to be using a supported product. i'll definitely be offering the author a donation -- and a few suggestions! [j]
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