My browsers won't open?

[uhmmm]

My browsers were working just fine yesterday. That is, until I downloaded another image viewing program.
Then some things started to change.

After I had downloaded that program, Firefox had started lagging and freezing a lot longer than it usually does. When it froze up for the twentieth time, I closed it. I didn't think much of it since I always open up more that 15 tabs in one window.

One hour later, though, the same thing happened. Firefox would lag and freeze even though I only had one tab open. And after a while, it wouldn't open at all -- and the same thing happened with I.E., too.

[Allan]

What did you download and from where did you download it? And did you just download it or did you install it?

[uhmmm]

Irfanview from http://www.irfanview.com/. I installed it.

[soybean]

IrfanView is a well know photo editing program, so I doubt it's the real cause of the problem.  But, since you say your problem started after installing it, why not uninstall it?  I suggest you also restore Windows to a Restore Point dated before you installed IrfanView.

[uhmmm]

Thanks. System restore seems to have fixed the problem.
The thing is, though, is that I need the program for a project I'm working on. I want to know if there's anyway to run/install that program without it messing with my browsers?

[soybean]

Many other image editing programs are available but, if you really need IrfanView for your project, you might post your question https://irfanview-forum.de/forum.php.

Of course, you could install IrfanView again and see whether the problem arises again.  If you do so, I suggest you disable your anti-virus program while installing it. 

[Allan]

Ifrfanview is an old and well regarded product - it really shouldn't cause any problems However, I've just replaced it on a number of systems with Faststone Image Viewer, which I think is outstanding: http://faststone-image-viewer.soft32.com/free-download/?lp=adwords&kw=Faststone+image+viewer&mt=e&ad=25477446918&pl=&ds=s&gclid=CMb6oI3-yLgCFYOe4Aod0jsAGQ

[SkinnyKing]

It sounds to me like IrfanViewer is conflicting with something that the browsers normally carry out such as an association with a filetype.

There's lot of ways you could deal with this but my advice is to uninstall IrfanViewer and use the portable app version instead.  Portable apps don't install in the same way that standard software does, they run in their own space so there shouldn't be any conflicts.
http://www.tekmoz.com/tekmoz_downloads/#portable-apps

If it continues to cause problems then consider using Google picasa or something else or try re-installing your browser of choice and it should become the default program that associates itself with whatever filetype is causing the issue.