Windows Picture and Fax Viewer Mystery

Framar

WOW Framer
Joined
Jul 24, 2001
Posts
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Loc
Buffalo, New York, USA/Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada
Whoa. I know computers have minds of they own, but this is really strange, folks...

I was just now viewing some attachments sent to me by my cousin in Outlook Express. There were four pages for my viewing pleasure, they were jpgs. I opened the first one, in the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, and then, since I just learned you could do this, I clicked on the forward arrow button at the bottom to view the next one.

Well, folks, up comes the green ad for Wizard computerized mat cutters. Intrigued, I clicked the button again, and RON'S AVATAR comes up, same size as an Avatar and typing away furiously. I click again and up comes this teensy box, about 3/8" square, with a drawing of a Rolodex card on it.

When I click back, I arrive at my cousin's attachment, but only the first page.

Now, isn't that just the darndest thing?????

Oh, and I had the G running whilst this was happening, so I shut it down and tried again with the same results.....

Can anyone 'splain this to me????? :confused:
 
Mar, it is inexplicable. But that won't prevent me from trying to make up some convincing-sounding BS.

Since you hadn't saved it to the hard drive, the jpg attachment you were viewing was being stored in a temporary file, along with every graphic on every internet page you've viewed "recently." By hitting the 'next' button in the viewer, you were scrolling through the files in a particular temporary folder (under the Windows folder.)

I say "recently" because these temporary files can pile up until they eat up a significant amount of hard drive space. If you ever start to run low on space, or if you begin to suspect you might be under surveilance by certain federal agencies, you can clean out those temporary files with a utility like Norton's or with an option under Internet Explorer tools.

This whole post could be completely off-base, but it sounded good, didn't it?

Oh, and those graphics, including my hyperactive little avatar, are stored as temporary files on your hard drive so that the next time you access that same page, the graphics will load more quickly. That's why the first time you view one of those 4 megabyte photos Grumblers love to post, it might take 30 minutes to load on your screen, but the next time you look at it (on the same computer) it will load very quickly.

BTW, what you experienced would have freaked me out, too, especially in the middle of the night (i.e. anytime after 10 p.m.)

[ 05-31-2003, 07:56 AM: Message edited by: Ron Eggers ]
 
Ron hit it right on the head
 
Thanks, Ron!!! (How many times have I said that?) At least now I know that I am not going crazy, nor is my computer. Whew! ;)
 
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