Windows XP users may remember a nice little right-click-context-menu resident image resizing app from Microsoft called “Image Resizer Powertoy”.
You may also remember that it was XP 32-bit specific, and that it did NOT work on Vista or Windows 7 or 64bit OS’s.
As it’s name suggests, Image Resizer PowerToy Clone is a clone of the aforementioned tool that works with XP, Vista, and Windows 7, 32 bit and 64 bit. Like it’s namesake, it is designed for quick resizing of images by selecting them in Windows explorer and right-clicking “Resize Pictures” in the context menu.
Once you select your image or images and choose “Resize Pictures”, the following dialog appears, which is fairly self explanatory.
More notes on this one:
- Image size(s): supports 4 pre-set images sizes as well as a “custom size” option (which once entered it will remember for later usage).
- Size images in batch: select as many images as you want and process all of them at once
- Custom sizes: for custom sizes, you can enter values for both width and height or one of the two. In the latter case, the program will calculate the appropriate resolution (i.e. the missing value) while preserving aspect ratio. This is perfect for me when creating thumbnails for images that I know I want to be 200px in width and I don’t want to specify the height.
The verdict: an excellent, lightweight program that is a must-have in your context menu whether you frequently or occasionally have to resize images.
Another option that does the same thing is VSO Image Resizer; it actually has more features (e.g. user defined presets); however, if, like me, you sometimes prefer simplicity Image Resizer Powertoy Clone wins out on that front at least!
All in all a great little app; kudos to the developer for bringing this to Vista / Windows 7.
Version Tested: 2.1
Compatibility: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit).
Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 352K for the 64bit version and 1206K for the 32bit version).
