Quickly Resizing Images in Windows Vista & Windows 7
For Windows XP, Microsoft has its own Image Resizer Power Toy available here. But if your OS is one among those that were developed later, say Vista or the new comer Windows 7, don’t expect the same old Power Toy to work. Microsoft hasn’t thought of developing a similar Power Toy for Vista/7, so lets look for some alternatives.
Image Resizer Power Toy Clone
If you love the good old Power Toy by Microsoft and are looking for a clone that works on Windows Vista / 7, Image Resizer should be the best option then. Similar to Microsoft Image Resizer, this application adds itself to the context menu (right-click), so you just have to right-click an image, choose ‘Resize Picture’, select a predefined one or enter a custom ratio, choose if you do not want to make copies, click OK and you have your new resized image. Download
Pros:
- Supports multiple formats
- Quick Resizing from Context menu
- Keeps aspect ratio
- Custom size
Cons:
- Lacks auto-cropping images when resized to a custom size
Picture Resizer
If you are looking for a flexible resizer tool, Picture Resizer is the best bet – light weight, standalone, portable and occupies mere 300KB of your Hard Disk. All you have to do is download the EXE file, drag the JPG file you want to resize onto it, and you have a resized image in seconds.
Picture Resizer has to be renamed first, based on how you want the image be resized to. Use the online renaming wizard/guide available here. The default is PhotoResize400.exe which means the image will be resized to 400px in width, maintaining the ratios. Lets say you want to resize an image to 200(w)x150(h) without maintaining the ratios, then you will name it as PhotoResize200x150.exe. But if you don’t want the image to look stretched, you can crop it towards the center, for which you’ll name it as PhotoResizeA200x150.exe.
When done, just drag the JPG image and drop it on the EXE file. A new resized file will be created next to the source image.
Pros:
- Lightweight & Portable
- Flexibility
- Auto-cropping
Cons:
- Limited to only JPG/JPEG files
If you are looking for more advanced features in Picture Resizer, check this page.
Great tool for those you don’t use snagit :) I use it and works well!