jpgs won't open, no thumbnails and no preview

When I tried to back up my "My Pictures" directory on my Dell Dimension 3000 Win XP Pro machine, all of the create dates on the jpgs changed to the current date, thumbnails disappeared, no preview in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer and jpg files will not open in Photoeditor or Paint. When I tried to copy, I tried to click and drag the entire "My Pictures" directory. I was prompted that some information may be lost, but I clicked yes to proceed. All of the jpg files still are listed in the directory with their original name and files sizes intact. The only change is the create date and the inability to view or open the files. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Copy the contents of the below Quote Box to Notepad. Then click File and then Save As. Change the Save as Type to All Files. Name the file fix.reg and then click save. (make sure you save it somewhere you can find it. Saving it to your Desktop may make that easy.) Then double-click on the fix.reg file on your desktop (or locate it with Windows Explorer and double click on it if not saved to the Desktop) and when it prompts to Add in to the registry, say yes.

After you complete the above, reboot and see if problem remains.

 

Thanks. I followed your directions, which were quite clear and easy to follow. Unfortunately, the jpgs in question still show no preview and will not open in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. Any other ideas would be gladly welcome. Thanks again for your reply.

 

If that didnt work, and the images still show "No preview avail." then they are most likely invalid or corrupt.

 

regsvr32 shimgvw.dll

Type that under start, run and click OK. If that doesn't do it, as said before, they are probably corrupt.