Tweaking your Windows XP Thumbnail View

Here is a quick tutorial on how to tweak your Microsoft Windows XP thumbnail size and quality.

Although I am aware that this tip is not new, I think it is a good lesson for any digital photographer.

Warning:
If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. I cannot be held responsible for any problem you encounter, if you decide to follow this tutorial it is at your own risk.

Now that the “legal” part is over let’s see how to proceed…..

Method one:
1) Go to Start -> Run and type regedit then press ENTER
2) Browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft \ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer
3) Create a DWORD value called ThumbnailSize and set its DECIMAL value between 32 – 256 (higher is bigger)
4) Create a DWORD value called ThumbnailQuality and set its DECIMAL value between 50 – 100 (higher is better)
5) Reboot your computer

Method Two:
If you don’t feel comfortable editing the registry by yourself
1) Open the notepad (Start -> Run type Notepad and press ENTER)
2) Copy paste the content of this file
3) Save the file as TweakThumb.reg
4) Double click on TweakThumb.reg
5) Reboot your computer

(TweakThumb.reg will set your Microsoft Windows XP thumbnails to the biggest size and best quality.)

Supported Operating Systems:
This tweak was tested working on
– Microsoft Windows XP
– Microsoft Windows 2003 server