Photos in "My Pictures" files disapearing?

I have years worth of my grandchildren's pictures from birth, baptism, monthly update pics, holiday pics, sports, birthdays etc dating back 9 years. Recently when I go to my documents, My pictures and click roll over say Newborn Joe, it says like 875kbs. But when I open it there are no pictures visable? How do I correct this? Is a virus causing this? Are they compressed? how did this happen and how do I uncompress them to view my piccs? I'm just sick! Any help would be appreciated.:cry

 

are there any files in the folders with a .jpg or similar at the end of them.if so try clicking on view and changing it to thumbnail or filmstrip.

 

Check Folder Options in Control Panel and make sure known file extensions are shown, if said files have no file extension you will need to tell Windows what to open them with, or add the file extension manually. Would also purchase an external drive to put things like that on as a back up. (Seeing 1 terabyte external drives under a hundred dollars these days) Call me paranoid, but I keep three back ups of my precious memories. If you used a third party program to get the pictures (Kodak) that may also be something to look into.

 

Yes most of my pics are jpeg or paint (few) I tried what you said (both thumbnails or filmstrips) nothing happened except it says "No filmstrip to show" yet it still is showing like 785kbs when I roll over the folder. thanks for trying to help.

 

You probably removed the program that served as your picture viewer.
What were you previously using to view your pictures?
If you aren't sure, look over everything listed in All Programs. Post any program you think you may have used in the past.