Forced to save images as BMP...

[Oualawouzou]

Hello everybody,

Tech help please!

The basics:

OS: Windows XP Pro
Web browser: Internet Explorer X.XX (whatever the latest or almost-latest version is) - switching to another browser is out of the question so don't suggest doing this please :P

Basically, sometimes I wish to save an image to my hard drive. Right-click, "save image as", and voila, right? Usually, yes. Sometimes though, my comp absolutely insists to save that image as a .bmp, even when it is very clearly a .gif (it happens most often with .gif for some reason). The only workaround I've found so far is to save the whole page somewhere on my HD then browse the files for the image I want, now in .gif format. It works, but it's annoying. Just wondering if you know of a way to force the comp to let me pick under which format I save my images.

Thanks!

[Giggywig]

I'd try this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810978

[Oualawouzou]

Hey, thanks!

I *did* do a search on Google, but without success...

I'm so used to the help files being totally useless, I haven't gotten into the habit of checking Microsoft's website when I run into a problem. :blush:

[Giggywig]

Well... did it work? Cause if not, my google fu is strong.

[Oualawouzou]

I'll let you know tonight, the problem is with my home comp and I'm at work ATM.

[arthwollipot]

Hey, thanks!

I *did* do a search on Google, but without success...

I'm so used to the help files being totally useless, I haven't gotten into the habit of checking Microsoft's website when I run into a problem. :blush:

Help files aren't totally useless, but you do need to be able to "massage" them in order to get useful information. Most people simply don't know how Microsoft wants them to frame their query.

That and the poor quality of help files in the past has produced a lasting antipathy, even now that the help files are a lot better than they used to be.

[richardm]

The main software product I work on used to have awesome help that actually explained how to do stuff and how the stuff worked. Then we started to translate it for sale to other countries, and the translators charged by the word. As a result, our help now says things along the lines of "Collective Control Lever. This lever controls the Collective". It's a real shame. The business argument is of course that the users are fully trained and don't use help anyway. It's true that they don't use help - there's no point any more.

Edited to add: I've found in the past that deleting the temporary internet files will let IE save as other image formats, but I wasn't aware of the reason. Thanks, Giggywig! (Mind you I'm still no clearer as to why it behaves like this but at least I know what is causing it)

[sophia8]

Hello everybody,

Tech help please!

The basics:

OS: Windows XP Pro
Web browser: Internet Explorer X.XX (whatever the latest or almost-latest version is) - switching to another browser is out of the question so don't suggest doing this please :PWhat's the problem with switching browsers? You can run any number of browsers on one machine, and importing bookmarks from IE to either Firefox or Opera is a snap.

[bjb]

This happens to me every so often. I reload the page and the image saves normally.