I just did a full review of all products and came to the same conclusion that you did, Leo. FastStone beats out other competitors to Ember but is not as good. I was hoping for an equivalent program that took advantage of multi-touch since I've now got a multi-touch monitor.
Note that Ember 7.1.1, which is the latest version, does work on Windows 7 (64 bit) except for trying to open the new Libraries folders. I've been using it for months now and have used a variety of batch and individual file functions with no problem.
beth
April 18, 2010 11:40 PM
with the sample to view, i can see that it only supports jpeg file. most of the pics i recovered are in png file. do you have one?
FastStone support many, many different image types, including PNG.
19-Apr-2010
Digital Artist
April 27, 2010 11:31 PM
I found this while looking for an image viewer that would allow me to open an image in one window and a second image in a second window. To take it a bit further, I would like to "page" through the images in a folder in one window while keeping a reference image (from any folder) opened in the second window. Any suggestions?
Jonathan Blair
August 22, 2010 3:59 AM
I have version 7.3.1 still going strong which is more recent than 7.1.1; sorry to hear he died. Thx for the update.
Christopher
November 23, 2010 7:50 PM
I am grateful to Leo for clearing up what happened to Firehand. I am sorry to hear that the software and website disappearance were due to the seemingly early death of its author. Equally I'm sorry to that the source code seems lost. For all those, me included, that were faithful consumers of all the various releases of the Ember line, it is really sad that no one will be able to carry it on. I treasure my legit copy of the last release and install on whatever computer I deem current, including my Win7 laptop, using WinXP Mode.
My most sincere, if much belated condolences to those Matthew left behind.
Jim de Graff
June 14, 2011 10:41 AM
One of the nicest features of FastStone is the ability to display up to four pictures in one window for comparison pictures. In a similar vein, I want to recommend the program VisiPics. It compares image files based on content. The "strictness" of the similarity can be selected. Similar images are displayed in a panel with one row for each image set. You can preview the matched images and determine which (if any) you want to delete. It's free. The VisiPics page is
If anyone has a recommendation for a similar (and free) utility I'd like to hear about it.
Ron
June 14, 2011 8:46 PM
Just to concur with your findings, I have been using FastStone for some time now and cannot praise it enough. Free but really worthy of a generous donation.
GREG JACKSON
June 15, 2011 6:11 AM
Thanks again, Leo. A needed improvement over Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. Slowly, day by day I replace Windows features with better 3rd party programs. Smaller, usuable, easily configurable 3rd party programs. Life gets better day by day. Yep.
Mark J
June 15, 2011 6:35 AM
I'm an Irfan fan, but after reading this I'm going to check this one out. Thanks Leo.
Michael
June 15, 2011 7:31 AM
I have been using this program for a few years and not only do I really like it I have come to rely on it.When I first got it I only used for a few things but the longer I had it I was amazed at all the things it can do.IMO its a no brainer as a gotta have pgm. "Try it you'll like it". Michael
Comments Page 2
Read the article that everyone's commenting on.
March 24, 2010 2:24 PM
I just did a full review of all products and came to the same conclusion that you did, Leo. FastStone beats out other competitors to Ember but is not as good. I was hoping for an equivalent program that took advantage of multi-touch since I've now got a multi-touch monitor.
Note that Ember 7.1.1, which is the latest version, does work on Windows 7 (64 bit) except for trying to open the new Libraries folders. I've been using it for months now and have used a variety of batch and individual file functions with no problem.
April 18, 2010 11:40 PM
with the sample to view, i can see that it only supports jpeg file. most of the pics i recovered are in png file. do you have one?
19-Apr-2010
April 27, 2010 11:31 PM
I found this while looking for an image viewer that would allow me to open an image in one window and a second image in a second window. To take it a bit further, I would like to "page" through the images in a folder in one window while keeping a reference image (from any folder) opened in the second window. Any suggestions?
August 22, 2010 3:59 AM
I have version 7.3.1 still going strong which is more recent than 7.1.1; sorry to hear he died. Thx for the update.
November 23, 2010 7:50 PM
I am grateful to Leo for clearing up what happened to Firehand. I am sorry to hear that the software and website disappearance were due to the seemingly early death of its author. Equally I'm sorry to that the source code seems lost. For all those, me included, that were faithful consumers of all the various releases of the Ember line, it is really sad that no one will be able to carry it on. I treasure my legit copy of the last release and install on whatever computer I deem current, including my Win7 laptop, using WinXP Mode.
My most sincere, if much belated condolences to those Matthew left behind.
June 14, 2011 10:41 AM
One of the nicest features of FastStone is the ability to display up to four pictures in one window for comparison pictures. In a similar vein, I want to recommend the program VisiPics. It compares image files based on content. The "strictness" of the similarity can be selected. Similar images are displayed in a panel with one row for each image set. You can preview the matched images and determine which (if any) you want to delete. It's free. The VisiPics page is
http://www.visipics.info/index.php?title=Main_Page
If anyone has a recommendation for a similar (and free) utility I'd like to hear about it.
June 14, 2011 8:46 PM
Just to concur with your findings, I have been using FastStone for some time now and cannot praise it enough. Free but really worthy of a generous donation.
June 15, 2011 6:11 AM
Thanks again, Leo. A needed improvement over Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. Slowly, day by day I replace Windows features with better 3rd party programs. Smaller, usuable, easily configurable 3rd party programs. Life gets better day by day. Yep.
June 15, 2011 6:35 AM
I'm an Irfan fan, but after reading this I'm going to check this one out. Thanks Leo.
June 15, 2011 7:31 AM
I have been using this program for a few years and not only do I really like it I have come to rely on it.When I first got it I only used for a few things but the longer I had it I was amazed at all the things it can do.IMO its a no brainer as a gotta have pgm. "Try it you'll like it". Michael
To post a comment on "FastStone Image Viewer - An easy to use tool to view, organize and manipulate images", please return to that article's main page.