Windows 10 and Google Photos

[Anneliese Carr]

Hi, I'm glad to have found this forum and I hope that someone can help me.

I have upgraded from Win7 to Win10 (clean install.) In the past, I have always used Picasa because it worked well for what I needed to do.

Now, Win10 has made Picasa not very usable. I am trying Google Photo but have a number of questions. From what I can see, I have to use Google Drive in order to move or delete any pictures. Is this correct? I have downloaded Google Drive but when I try to open, it tells me that “Backup and Sync is already running” and nothing happens.

Here are my questions:

*I would like to delete Google Sheets, Google Doc's, and Google Slides because I'm using Open Office.

*How can I open Google Drive in order to delete/uninstall those other apps. They don't show up in “Programs and Features”

*I would like to use Google Drive only for photos. Is this possible?

*The only reason I have Google Drive is because I guess that this is the only way to delete or move some photos around.

I hope that this question has not been asked already. I haven't found anything in the forum that would address my issues.

Thank you very much in advance for any advice. Ann

 

[Bighorn]

Now, Win10 has made Picasa not very usable

Might be because Picasa has been discontinued/retired by Google. Haven't tried Google Photos yet. The high school my daughter works at has moved to Google, some aren't too happy about it.
https://www.google.com/search?q=picasa&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1

 

[Bif]

Picasa has been officially retired by Google but it is still available from many third party sites (not that I condone the use or security of these sites) but the .exe is out there and completely useable and fully compatible with Windows 10. I've used Picasa since it's inception and continue to, The issue with Google photos is the security factors as it needs complete access to not only your media files but a whole host of other permissions that I'm not comfortable granting just to organize my photos. Another issue is syncing your photos unbeknownst to you onto thier servers.
I won't post links to the third party sites that offer the Picasa download but a simple Google search will provide them if you still want to use it.

 

[davehc]

You don't seem to have an answer to your queries, but, "The only reason I have Google Drive is because I guess that this is the only way to delete or move some photos around."
Have you tried flikr, as an alternative?
https://www.flickr.com/

 

[Anneliese Carr]

Thank you so much for everybody who has taken the time to answer. I'm sorry that I haven't had the time to check this forum again.
I sure miss Picasa!! I was simple and it gave me just what I needed for my pictures. Have downloaded Picasa again but was concerned about all of the possible insecurities. I will give flickr.com a try. Thank you!
In the meantime, I have figured out how to use Google Photos for the most part. I'm not that concerned about uploading to the cloud because I like to save my pictures as a backup on my external drive.
My problem at this point is with uploading pictures from my cell phone. It goes through the motions but takes a long time and nothing happens. The little icon shows only "windows photos" for download then, of course, nothing happens. In short, Windows Photos wants to take over all of my pictures I and can't seem to be able to stop it.
The biggest problem so far is the inability to make Google Photos my default app. I have been using Chrome for some time now but can't seem to find Google Photos on my list of default programs. Even when opening a photo from my windows desktop, the "open with" feature doesn't give me the option to use Google Photos. It wants to open with Windows Photos. Have tried it, but liked Google a lot better. I have also tried "Irfanview". Good program, but is more complicated and does a lot more than I want to take the time edit my pictures.
So, if anybody has any suggestion about how to make Google Photos my default app, I would appreciate it very much. Again, thank you very much for your help!

 

[Anneliese Carr]

Update.....I have finally found the way to get rid of the pesky Microsoft Photo app. Now I don't have to worry about making Google Photo my default app.
Here it is for anybody who had the same problem:
Open MS Photo, then click on the search the "search" window. In Search, type: powershell. Right-click it to open "Run as Administrator". Then :
"get-appxpackage*photo*|remove-appxpackage" then hit enter.
It worked for me....finally.
Again, thanks for a great forum.

 

[Grizzly]

Open MS Photo, then click on the search the "search" window. In Search, type: powershell. Right-click it to open "Run as Administrator". Then :
"get-appxpackage*photo*|remove-appxpackage" then hit enter.

that does not work, at least on my computer, I tried.... I can open powershell through the search (via cortana) or from the start menu but not in the search window of the photo app....

 

[Anneliese Carr]

I'm sorry that it didn't work for you, Grizzly. I probably didn't make the instructions very clear. Here is the link for the instructions. It really worked well for me.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...s_10-photos-winpc/how-to-uninstall-photo-app-

Good luck! I hope that it works for you.

 

[davehc]

The link doesn't open either. But, I agree with Grizzly. I don't see how it can open a power shell from withing the photo program. Cortana/search would be the way to go.
But doesn't your command only revert the new Photos back to the old Photo viewer?

 

[Grizzly]

I'm sorry that it didn't work for you, Grizzly. I probably didn't make the instructions very clear. Here is the link for the instructions. It really worked well for me.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...s_10-photos-winpc/how-to-uninstall-photo-app-

Good luck! I hope that it works for you.

Page Not Found
We are sorry we weren't able to find what you are looking for.

You can try the following:

• Search Microsoft Community
• Go to the Microsoft Community home page

 

[Anneliese Carr]

The original instructions for me were to open MS Photo. I really don't know why either but I just followed instructions. It's best to go to Search and type in "powershell". When powershell comes up, choose "run as administrator".
What worked for me, was to copy
"get-appxpackage-allusers*Microsoft.Windows.Photos*|remove-appxpackage"
(without the quotation marks)
In the powershell window, just right click. This pasted the above quotation into powershell. BTW, the "|" is located right under the backspace key.
I sure hope that this will help.

 

[bassfisher6522]

Google Photos is now "Backup and Sync". I've been using Google photos since Pisca and every iteration since. I love it.

I have to use Google Drive in order to move or delete any pictures. Is this correct?

NO.....you delete pictures directly from Google photos.

I have downloaded Google Drive but when I try to open, it tells me that “Backup and Sync is already running” and nothing happens.

Google drive is now a part of "Backup and Sync" and completely separate. You can set Backup and Sync to save pictures to Google Drive and have your pics in 2 places.

*I would like to delete Google Sheets, Google Doc's, and Google Slides because I'm using Open Office.

yes you can....in Chrome settings.

*How can I open Google Drive in order to delete/uninstall those other apps. They don't show up in “Programs and Features”

Those apps are not part of Google Drive but apart of Chrome.

*I would like to use Google Drive only for photos. Is this possible?
Yes. In the Google drive settings but it's convoluted and a PITA.

*The only reason I have Google Drive is because I guess that this is the only way to delete or move some photos around.

NO.....You do this in the Backup and Sync...aka Google photos.

 

[bassfisher6522]

 

[bassfisher6522]

After you signed in to chrome and have photos open.....select your picture and the click the trash can. That's it.

The beauty of this is: If you use a android mobile phone and have sync set up and then have backup and sync on your PC your Pictures taken on your phone are now synced with your PC and vice versa. Any pictures saved to your picture folder is now on your Phone.

This is the purpose of this software. It's exactly why I use it.

 

[Anneliese Carr]

Thank you, Bassfisher6522, for all of your help!!