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PixVue is the most satisfying find I've made in 23 years of searching for freeware.
 technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

T e c h n o f i l e
The best free software for Windows, Part 1: Photo editing and image management


May 21, 2006


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2006, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2006, The Post-Standard

   Is free software worth the price?
   That's not a trick question. Although you don't have to pay money to acquire and use free software, you sometimes have to pay in other ways -- in getting support for problems that come up, for example, and in finding software updates when you get new hardware or a better operating system.
   So is it worth what you "pay" for it? The answer is an unqualified "maybe." Sometimes you just can't get the kind of software you want without handing over your credit card, but you might find, as I have, that the extra effort of searching for good freeware provides a dividend you can't get any other way.
   Over the next few months, I'll spend every few weeks highlighting some of what I consider the best Windows and Mac OS X freeware. This week I'll tell you about three digital photo programs for Windows in this article, with a similar examination of free photo software for Apple's Mac OS X in my companion column, Road Less Traveled.
   One of the Windows programs I'll tell you about this week is so spectacular I consider it essential for any serious digital photographer.
   The most satisfying find I've made in 23 years of searching for freeware is PixVue, an image viewer and photo manager for Windows. Get PixVue from www.pixvue.com.
   PixVue integrates itself with Windows Explorer, the file-and-folder program that runs whenever you double click on a folder or run Explorer from the Start Menu. (I'm not referring to Internet Explorer. Windows Explorer handles all the folder windows.)
   PixVue adds two menus of options that show up when you right click an image's file or icon in Explorer. The first menu lets you preview the image as large as possible, with a set of control buttons appearing at top.
   The second menu provides 12 functions, including many options for annotating an image using international standards for photo tagging. Some annotations (for shutter speed, for example) are written into images by digital cameras; others can be added manually, which PixVue makes exceptionally easy. In fact, PixVue's annotation function is the best I've seen in any program.
   Another stellar freeware image program is the FastStone Image Viewer, from www.faststone.org. It's cleverly designed and extremely easy to use. FastStone is the Swiss army knife of image managers, providing nearly every conceivable function, (I won't even begin to tell you what they are. If you can imaging a function, it's in FastStone.)
   When your mouse pointer touches the top of your screen, FastStone drops down one set of menus; when it hits the right side, the program opens another set. It's all very clever.
   I recommend PixVue first. If you like PixVue, you won't need FastStone. But I've talked to some photo enthusiasts who consider PixVue too specialized; if that's how you feel after trying PixVue, FastStone is likely to be just what you need.
   Finally, you can get a good freeware photo editor for Windows called Photo Finale Quick Start from www.trevoli.com. It works more like standard software than the other two programs, so it might be ideal for someone who wants only the basics. (The company sells fancier versions, too.)