Tech Tips

Disable Automatic Image Resizing

Question: Why does Internet Explorer shrink any large images I view, and how can I change that?

Answer: With Internet Explorer 6.0 Microsoft introduced an "automatic image resizing" feature. When you look at a picture that is too large to fit on your screen, this feature shrinks it so you can see the entire picture at once. The benefit of this feature is that it allows you to see large pictures without having to scroll, but it can be annoying if you actually do want to see a large picture at its full size.

If you let your mouse pointer sit for a few seconds on an image that Internet Explorer has automatically resized for you, then a button will appear in the bottom-right corner of the picture after a few seconds. Clicking on this button will return the picture to its original size. You can also disable this feature entirely with the following steps.

With Internet Explorer open, click on the "Tools" menu, then click on "Options." In the Options window that pops up, click on the tab titled "Advanced." The possible options here are broken up into categories - scroll down until you see the "Multimedia" category. In the multimedia category, you should see an option labeled "Automatic Image Resizing" next to a box with an X through it. Click once inside the square and the X should disappear - you have just "un-checked" that check box. Now click on the "Ok" button at the bottom of the "Options" window and you're done! Internet Explorer will no longer automatically resize images.

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