Quick Image Resizing

Nowadays, it seems we all have just tons of pictures laying around on our hard drive. With the proliferation of higher resolution cameras, the file sizes have gotten pretty big, especially when we are trying to email those pictures or upload them to our social networking sites. Either the email recipient cannot receive large email attachments or it is taking way too long to upload those cute pictures of the dog licking the grandkids face and it is frustrating.

Resizing is the answer, but to do that we have to launch our photo-organizer/editing software, find the pictures one by one and then go into the proper section of the software and re-size the pictures. Another time consuming chore that takes time out of our already full day. There should be a faster way to do this and there is.

Back in the days of yore, Microsoft released Windows XP and along with it, a set of downloadable tools called PowerToys. One of the more useful PowerToys is the image resizer.

The way it works is pretty simple. After installing it, open up My Computer and go to the folder that you have your picture stored in. Right click on the picture and choose the resize picture option, choose the size that you want and click the OK button. It automatically copies the picture and resizes it while giving a new name. It leaves the original picture intact in its original size.

You can download the Windows XP PowerToy from here:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/whistler/Install/2/WXP/EN-US/ImageResizerPowertoySetup.exe

You can also find some other useful Windows XP PowerToys here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

Now what if you have a newer version of Windows, such as Vista or Windows 7? Well you are in luck, because someone decided to make a version that will work on the newer version of Windows.

You can find that version here:
http://imageresizer.codeplex.com/releases/view/30247

Over the years, I have found that this PowerToy was well worth the time it takes to download and install. It has been a time saver, both professionally and personally and it is one of the first tools that I install on a new system. Give it a try and see if you agree.

Brooks