Windows Photo Gallery

when I first started with Vista, Photo Gallery would show only the photo i
clicked on. Now when i click on any photo it shows all the photos i created
since I was born.
Can anyone tell me how to change the view back to only showing one photo?

You are trying to assign a 'default viewer' for a picture file. Photo
Gallery is not what you want to use for that. It will always open in a view
that shows you all the files you can choose from.
Rightclick a picture, like you were doing before. Click the item in that
menu for "Open With", and then the item at the bottom for "Choose Default
Program". The application you choose there will be used from now on as your
viewer. (You are setting up a 'file association' for one of your picture
filetypes. like *.jpg or some other picture type. )

Not quite - if you 'preview' the image Photo Gallery will open with a
single image displayed plus the slide-show buttons and usual tools
available.
Preview is in the context menu and is the default action for jpeg in my
setup so I use 'edit' or 'open with' if I intend to do anything other
than just view.

when i first started using this vista machine i would click
on 1 photo and thats all i would see....now it opens in gallery....i want to
go back to the single view...I don't want all the photos i own
showing.....any thoughts or do I look for another viewer?

It would seem there is a "Preview" action available that I failed to notice.
You can change the default action for a filetype. Control Panel, Default
Programs no longer has a GUI interface to set the default action, so you
would have to reset it in the registry. Since you lack experience with that,
it's probably not a good idea to try it without local help. There will
probably be some reg file available for download eventually. I would suggest
you wait for that.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\jpegfile\shell\open
default set to:
%SystemRoot%\System32\rundll32.exe "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Photo
Gallery\PhotoViewer.dll", ImageView_Fullscreen %1

[ninestories]

I've screwed this setting up a couple of times -- after half-fixing it in the registry a handful of times I was disappointed to find this is actually an easy fix. Find a file that is no longer opening "correctly" -- right-click it and select 'Open With,' and then 'Choose Default Program.' In the box that appears, select the Browse button near the lower right-hand corner and navigate to C:\Program Files\Windows Photo Gallery\ but do NOT select either of the programs displayed. Instead, use the drop-down box in the lower-right hand corner that says "Programs (*.exe,*.pif, etc.)" and select "All files (*.*)" Select 'PhotoViewer.dll' from the new list of files and click 'Open.' Back on the 'Open With' page, 'Windows Photo Gallery' should be selected. Make sure the 'Always use the selected program...' box is checked and click OK. This is the correct default setting and does not require any registry edits.

[jmtrumpet]

Thank you SO MUCH ninestories!

I've been annoyed by my laptop's Windows Photo Gallery for quite some time. All of a sudden one day it stopped going directly to a view of the picture when I clicked on thumbnails in my Pictures folder and started showing 6 gazillion pictures at a time.

Now I've followed your directions and gotten my computer back to the way it was before.