MegaView, Photo and Multimedia Viewer          
MegaView
Photo and Multimedia Viewing Software
Frequently Asked Questions

1.    How can I speed up the display of thumbnails?
 
2.    Where are the advanced options that were available in my old version?
 
3.    When I try to play some AVI video files, i get the error "vids: mjpg decompressor missing".  What does this mean?
 
4.    I cannot get some multimedia formats to play, what should I do?
 
5.    I want to play some multimedia (*.MP3 and *.MOV) formats with a different player. How can I do this?
 
6.    After installing MegaView all my image icons have changed to MegaView icons and now when I click on an image in Explorer, I no longer see an example image displayed.   Can I fix this?
 
7.    After installing MegaView I can no longer open my images in my favorite image viewer by double-clicking on them, why?
 
8.    Whenever I click on a Word file for display I am asked whether I want to download the file?  Why is this happening?
 
9.    Is it possible to use the Explorer Thumbs.db file to load Thumbnails in MegaView?
 
10.    Your documentation says that you support PDF files, but when I try to view a PDF file I get an Internet Explorer message saying 'Do you want to Load or Open this file?'
 
11.    I would like to be able to set the order in which my images display during a slideshow.  I know that I can change the viewing order by name, file size, etc., but is it possible to set my own order for displaying the files during a slideshow?
 
12.    I want to put MegaView on a CD and have it load automatically when the CD is inserted and show the images that it contains, how can I do that?
 
13.    I received an error when trying to uninstall MegaView. What should I do?
 
14.    How can I change the video types that are supported by MegaView?
 
15.    I want to change the order of my images (not by filename or date, but my own order) so they show in that order when I create my HTML index.
 
16.    I can't seem to get MegaView to crop the images where I have positioned the selection box.  Why is that?
 
 
 
1.  How can I speed up the display of thumbnails?
 
  By default, MegaView loads thumbnails in the background so that you can continue to use the software without waiting for them to load, however you can disable this option under Tools > Options if you want to speed up their initial display.

You should also review the size of the disk cache, a large disk cache will mean that when you return to a folder you have previously viewed the thumbnails will be retrieved from the cache and so load much faster.

 
 
2.  Where are the advanced options that were available in my old version?
 
  For v10 we demoted a plethora of seldom used options to make the interface less confusing.

However Power users can expose the "Power Tools" tab of options:

1. Close MegaView
2. Run the relevant file in this zip
3. Run MegaView
4. Select Tools > Options, "Power Tools"

 
 
3.  When I try to play some AVI video files, i get the error "vids: mjpg decompressor missing".  What does this mean?
 
  You will need to download an MJpeg codec. 

You can get the codec free by downloading the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack:

www.free-codecs.com/download/K_Lite_Mega_Codec_Pack.htm
or
www.free-codecs.com/Motion_JPEG_Codec_download.htm

Or purchasing a commercial codec:

www.mainconcept.com
www.morgan-multimedia.com
www.pegasusimaging.com

 
 
4.  I cannot get some multimedia formats to play, what should I do?
 
  MegaView will generally be able to play all files that have a valid MCI driver.  Windows should provide MCI drivers for all common formats which you want to play.
 
Exceptions:
 
Some AVI formats (.avi):
 
AVI is not a single format, rather it has many different "flavors". Windows supports all the common formats already, so MegaView can play them. However you will need to download the requisite codecs for some of the custom formats.
 
The easiest way to do this is to install one of the popular "Codec Packs". The best one is the K-Lite Codec Pack. Failing that try the Nimo Codec Pack or the Doom9 Codec List


RealNetworks formats (ra, .ram, .rm, .rmm):
 
Microsoft no longer includes support for RealNetworks in newer versions of Windows media player. Users wanting to play RealAudio or RealVideo need to obtain the RealPlayer. You can still access them via MegaView, see FAQ #5


QuickTime Formats (.mov, .qt):
 
Newer versions of Windows do not support files that are created with QuickTime version 2.0 and later. Users wanting to play such files need to obtain the QuickTime viewer from Apple. You can still access them via MegaView, see FAQ #5
 

If you have a format which you cannot play in MegaView but can play in other software on your system, then it is possible that another MCI driver is being used, which is causing problems.

Please download the MCI Tester, run it and let us know what results you get.

If all else fails, you can set MegaView to use an external application to play the format. Please see FAQ #5.

 
 
5.  I want to play some multimedia (*.MP3 and *.MOV) formats with a different player.  How can I do this?
 
  To have MegaView use an external player when you click on a file format you will have to specify that it is not a supported sound file, but rather it is a 'custom' file.  The process for this is:

i)  Select Tools > Supported Formats (you will need to have the Simplified Interface option switched off when you do this - you can find this on the first tab). 
ii)  Click on 'Select..' beside the Sound Files list
iii) Uncheck the MP3 Option and click OK
iv) Check the 'Custom Formats option'
v) Click 'Add and Select..'
vi) Click 'Add..', enter *.MP3 and click OK
vii)  Click on the Single Click tab and the custom formats option is set to 'Display with the Windows default program.'
viii) Click OK to exit

 
 
6.  After installing MegaView all my image icons have changed to MegaView icons and now when I click on an image in Explorer, I no longer see an example image displayed.  Can I fix this?
 
  You have associated your images with MegaView, you need to revert this association. To do this, select Tools > Supported Formats.
 
If you are using the 'Simplified User Interface options, click OK to the first dialog displayed and then in the next dialog (headed select formats) uncheck all the formats that are checked.
 
If you are not using the simplified interface, select the 'Associations' tab, then click on the Associations button beside Images and uncheck all the formats that are checked.
 
 
7.  After installing MegaView I can no longer open my images in my favorite image viewer by double-clicking on them, why?
 
  You have set the option to make MegaView your default viewer.  To restore your previous viewer, select Tools > Supported Formats.
 
If you are using the 'Simplified User Interface options, click OK to the first dialog displayed and then in the next dialog (headed select formats) uncheck all the formats that are checked.
 
If you are not using the simplified interface, select the 'Associations' tab, then click on the Associations button beside Images and uncheck all the formats that are checked.
 
 
8.  Whenever I click on a Word file for display I am asked whether I want to download the file?  Why is this happening?
 
  The problem is likely to be that Word is either not installed on your system or is not set-up correctly.

If you have tried reinstalling Word and still have problems, then it is recommended that you specify that Word is not a supported format so that Word is loaded when you want to display the file (rather than MegaView trying to display it).  The process for this is:

i)  Select Tools > Supported Formats (you will need to have the Simplified Interface option switched off when you do this - you can find this on the first tab). 
ii)  Click on 'Select..' beside the Common Formats list
iii) Uncheck the Word Option and click OK
iv) Check the 'Custom Formats option'
v) Click 'Add and Select..'
vi) Click 'Add..', enter *.DOC and click OK
vii)  Click on the Single Click tab and the custom formats option is set to 'Display with the Windows default program.'
viii) Click OK to exit

 
 
9.  Is it possible to use the Explorer Thumbs.db file to load Thumbnails in MegaView?
 
  Yes, go into Tools > Options, Thumbnails tab. Click the Specify button beside "Load Explorer Thumbnails" and specify each of your image formats, e.g. *.jpeg
 
 
10.  Your documentation says that you support PDF files, but when I try to view a PDF file I get an Internet Explorer message saying 'Do you want to Load or Open this file?'
 
  To support PDF files you need to install the free Adobe Acrobat Viewer which installs a browser plug-in.  You can download this from the Adobe Web Site 
 
 
11.  I would like to be able to set the order in which my images display during a slideshow.  I know that I can change the viewing order by name, file size, etc., but is it possible to set my own order for displaying the files during a slideshow?
 
  Yes.  To do this you need to add all of the files of the slideshow to your favorites (File>Add to Favorites) and then go to favorites mode and reorder then using the up/down buttons (or drag and drop).
 
 
12.  I want to put MegaView on a CD and have it load automatically when the CD is inserted and show the images that it contains, how can I do that?
 
  These are the steps:

i. Copy all of the files from C:\Program Files (x86)\MegaView to a \MegaView\ folder on the CD
ii. Put all of the images that you want to show in an \Images\ folder on the CD
iii. Put the following file in the top level folder of the CD (e.g. if your CD is in E:\ then this file needs to be at E:\Autorun.inf):

MegaView Autoplay

 
 
13.  I received an error when trying to uninstall MegaView. What should I do?
 
  You can uninstall it manually. Here are the steps:
 
i) Delete the folder, C:\Program Files (x86)\MegaView\
ii) Click on the Start Menu button with the right mouse button and select 'Open'
iii) Open the folder, 'Programs'
iv) Delete the folder, 'MegaView'
 
 
14.  How can I change the video types that are supported by MegaView?
 
  To edit them:
i) Select Tools > Supported Formats (you will need to have the Simplified Interface setting switched off when you do this - you can find this on the first tab of Tools > Options).
ii) Click on 'Select..' beside the Video Files list
iii) Check the video formats that you want to support and uncheck those that you do not want
iv) Click OK to exit
 
 
15.  I want to change the order of my images (not by filename or date, but my own order) so they show in that order when I create my HTML index.
 
  You can modify the displayed order of a set of files like this:
i) Select the files and add them to favorites (File>Add to Favorites)
ii) Change to Favorites mode by clicking the Favorites tab
iii) To change the order of the files, click on them, then use the Up/Down buttons to promote/demote files
 
 
16.  I can't seem to get MegaView to crop the images where I have positioned the selection box.  Why is that?
 
  MegaView uses Lossless cropping, meaning that there is no reduction in the quality of your JPEG images when you perform a crop (unlike in most other image editing software). The one limitation with cropping or rotating images losslessly, is that you are bound by certain data blocks within the image, this means that lossless crops will often be a few pixels out from your selection and when rotating a few pixels may be lost from the edge of an image.
 
If you would prefer more exact cropping then you can disable the lossless rotation and cropping under Tools > Options, Advanced...